Transgene Biotek files patents for liver and breast cancer drugs

Transgene Biotek has filed two patents for its cancer drug technologies - one for liver cancer and the other for breast cancer - both based on its proprietary RNAi platform.

Both the cancer drugs utilise a novel gene silencing technology that selectively knocks down specific cancer-producing gene targets, the company said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Transgene said it filed the patent for the liver cancer drug after animal trials showed excellent results. The technology employs a genetically modified AAV vector system to efficiently express specific microRNA that silence a particular metastasis-promoting gene in liver cancer cells, it added.

Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world, and the third most common cause of cancer mortality, it added.

The second patent, for a breast cancer drug, uses another novel technology developed by Transgene that employs an efficient system which expresses short interfering RNA cloned in a viral vector that silences a particular metastasis-promoting gene in breast cancer cells.

This drug is designed not only to treat primary breast cancer but also to fight potential metastafic tumors, it said.

Worldwide, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, representing 16 per cent of all female cancers, and causes well over 500,000 deaths annually. This patent was also filed following exciting results in recent animal studies, Transgene said in the release.

Transgene expects to file more patents on some of its other technologies shortly.