Ultimovacs has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) concerning its US patent application on the use of vaccine-checkpoint inhibitor combinations to treat cancer.

Subject to grant formalities, it is expected that a patent will issue with a patent term up to at least June 2037. Ultimovacs has similar patent applications pending in other territories worldwide, including Europe, Japan, Canada and Australia.

“We are pleased that Ultimovacs’ innovative contributions to combination immunotherapies in cancer have been validated by the USPTO,” says Carlos de Sousa, Chief Executive Officer of Ultimovacs. “The company’s universal cancer vaccine UV1 is being assessed in combination with checkpoint inhibitors in five phase 2 trials for various cancers. The allowed claims will cover such combination treatments across these and other cancer indications and will extend proprietary use of the vaccine in combination with these checkpoint inhibitors until at least 2037.”

“The allowed claims will cover such combination treatments across these and other cancer indications and will extend proprietary use of the vaccine in combination with these checkpoint inhibitors until at least 2037.”

The scope of the patent, when issued, will cover cancer treatments that include the UV1 peptide vaccine in combination with an anti-CTLA-4, anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibody checkpoint inhibitor. The primary patents of many of the current CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors face expiry over the course of the next several years.

Photo of Carlos de Sousa: Ultimovacs