Ocean Biomedical Announces Notice of Allowance for Patent Application for Developing “Whole New Class” of Malaria Therapeutics

Ocean Biomedical, Inc. recently announced its Scientific Co-founder and a member of its board of directors, Jonathan Kurtis, MD, PhD, received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for his US patent application covering a therapeutic and prophylactic monoclonal antibody that kills falciparum malaria parasites.

A Notice of Allowance is issued after the USPTO examines a patent application and determines that the applicant should be granted a patent from the application. Ocean Biomedical anticipates that a patent will be issued by the USPTO from Dr. Kurtis’ application in the coming months.

Building on his groundbreaking discovery that PfGARP is potentially a highly effective vaccine target for malaria, Dr. Kurtis has now discovered and produced a monoclonal antibody that binds to PfGARP and triggers the malaria parasite to kill itself. This new patent allowance will allow Dr. Kurtis’ team to pursue development of this monoclonal antibody as both a potential therapeutic drug for individuals with severe malaria infection as well as a potential short-term prophylactic treatment to prevent malaria infection in travelers, overseas deployed military and government personnel, and individuals living in areas with short malaria transmission seasons.

“Inducing parasite cell death via targeting PfGARP is a novel approach that has potential to launch a whole new class of anti-malarials, including mRNA-based vaccines, small molecules and the current monoclonal antibody,” said Dr. Kurtis. “Our monoclonal comes at a critical time because malaria parasites are developing resistance to current frontline therapeutics, and because the currently approved vaccine offers only very limited protection.”

“As the current drugs began to fade, we are pleased to have a drug candidate that could offer a treatment option for severe malaria patients, and one that would be well-suited to use for malaria prophylaxis for travelers, military deployments, and short-term exposure areas,” commented Ocean Biomedical’s Chairman and Co-founder Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria.

“Like all of Ocean Biomedical’s preclinical programs, this malaria treatment has the potential to meet large, unmet medical needs that can benefit our shareholders, and a large population globally,” said one of Ocean’s Directors, Suren Ajjarapu.

“With the rising resistance to artemisinin-based drugs in sub-Saharan Africa, it is imperative that we get new malaria therapeutics into the drug development pipeline,” said Elizabeth Ng, Ocean Biomedical’s CEO. “We are pleased to be working on multiple solutions to this ongoing global health crisis, and to have the opportunity to share it with some of the nation’s top malaria researchers.”

Malaria is still the greatest single-agent killer of children on the planet, killing approximately 627,000 individuals in 2022. Artemisinin-based drug therapy remains the mainstay of treatment, but the spread of parasites resistant to this family of compounds threatens recent progress achieved by antimalarial campaigns and underscores the urgent need to identify new anti-malarial drugs. In a 2022 report, the World Health Organization warned of a surge in mosquito-borne diseases due to global warming, which is increasing vector survival and biting rates.

The data generated by his lab has demonstrated that the family of small molecule candidates in development by Dr. Kurtis’ team are highly specific for PfGARP binding, are non-toxic in multiple in vitro and in vivo systems, have excellent pharmacokinetic properties, and rapidly clear parasitemia in animal models. This discovery has allowed Ocean Biomedical to begin simultaneously pursuing the development of a novel malaria vaccine, and novel malaria therapeutics.

Ocean Biomedical, Inc. is a Providence, RI-based biopharma company with an innovative business model that accelerates the development and commercialization of scientifically compelling assets from research universities and medical centers. Ocean Biomedical deploys the funding and expertise to move new therapeutic candidates efficiently from the laboratory to the clinic, to the world. Ocean Biomedical is currently developing five promising discoveries that have the potential to achieve life-changing outcomes in lung cancer, brain cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, and the prevention and treatment of malaria. The Ocean Biomedical team is working on solving some of the world’s toughest problems, for the people who need it most. For more information, visit www.oceanbiomedical.com.