Cequent Pharmaceuticals said this week that it has received notices that the European Patent Office and the Korean Intellectual Property Office intend to grant patents covering the company's core RNAi technology.
The patent applications, entitled "Compositions for Bacterial-Mediated Gene Silencing and Methods Using the Same," relate to Cequent's so-called transkingdom RNAi technology, which involves using attenuated Escherichia coli to transcribe therapeutic shRNAs.
Specifically, the IP claims "attenuated bacteria as a therapeutic engine for the delivery of short interfering RNA molecules against disease-related genes, including cancer genes such as beta-catenin, whose up-regulation is implicated in the formation and proliferation of colorectal and other cancers," Cequent said.