Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada– To protect novel anti-infective formulations developed at The University of British Columbia (UBC) for the treatment of Enterococcus, including the multi-drug-resistant superbug VRE, a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application entitled “Antibiotic Cannabinoid-Terpene Formulations” was filed in May 2020. The International Search Report & Written Opinion (ISR/WO) issued August 5, 2020 determined that important patent claims met the criteria for being novel, non-obvious and industrially-applicable. This included an antibiotic composition claim on cannabinoids with one of several antibiotics, with or without the addition of antimicrobial terpenes. The ISR/WO also validated that data first submitted under a United States Provisional application in May 2019 was sufficient to grant this earlier priority date to patent claims in the PCT application.
“This is a positive indication that certain key patent claims have a good chance of being awarded in the national jurisdictions we select for patent prosecution, which would allow exclusivity in this important area of therapeutic development. Notably, there are no restrictions limiting the use of the claimed compositions to any particular infection, so this technology may be developed as a novel antibiotic, formulated for administration via any route, for the treatment of any amenable infectious disease, including the superbug VRE.” says Dr. Dana Lambert, Andira Founder & CEO. “It has been known for decades, and probably much longer, that cannabis-derived preparations have anti-infective properties. By building on this prior knowledge with leading researchers, we now understand how to overcome antimicrobial drug resistance by producing antibiotic synergy using select cannabinoids and marketed antibiotics. This is a novel therapeutic strategy that can be applied to combat superbug infections and stop the global problem of antimicrobial drug resistance. Our goal is for this technology to reach patients in hospitals who urgently need it.”
Andira is continuing to sponsor antibiotic research & development through a collaborative research agreement with UBC and other contract research organizations to advance the anti-infective pipeline. The company currently holds exclusive option rights to several infectious disease technologies and drug delivery systems from UBC.
Media inquiries: please contact info@andira.ca–
