Ocean Biomedical Announces Patent Issued for PfGARP Malaria Antibodies

Ocean Biomedical recently announced its Scientific Co-founder Dr. Jonathan Kurtis, MD, PhD, has been issued a key US patent for his groundbreaking malaria therapeutic antibody discovery that targets PfGARP. Since publicizing news of his original research on PfGARP and its critical role in the malaria cycle in the Journal NATURE, Dr. Kurtis and his team have been working to deepen their understanding of how it naturally triggers the death of malaria parasites, and their control of that mechanism. Their expanded insights have already led to: 1.) a powerful vaccine candidate targeted for long term prevention of malaria infection; 2.) a therapeutic antibody candidate for short-term malaria prevention; and 3.) a therapeutic small molecule drug candidate targeted to treat severe malaria, with potential to launch a whole new class of malaria medicines.

This patent is adding to Ocean Biomedical’s global patent portfolio of over 5 dozen patents for discoveries with potential to impact major unmet medical needs in infectious disease, oncology, and fibrosis, developed through grants totaling over $125M.

Kurtis’ novel approach causes parasite death at a key stage in the malarial cycle, triggering programmed cell death through apoptosis. This patent expands protection for Dr. Kurtis’ novel discoveries at a time when the most common strains of malaria are showing signs of growing resistance to current Artemisinin-based drugs.

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

Malaria is 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.

“At each step in the process we are learning more about how this ‘kill switch’ mechanism works to interrupt the malaria parasite’s lifecycle, and how we can exploit that on the prevention side and the treatment side,” said Dr. Jake Kurtis, Scientific Co-founder of Ocean Biomedical, member of Ocean Biomedical’s board of directors and Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School Brown University.

“The progress we have been able to make thus far in advancing novel targets is a testament to Ocean Biomedical’s innovative model and deep partnership with premier research institutions. We are hopeful that Dr. Kurtis’ discoveries will lead to powerful new treatment options that can save hundreds of thousands of lives, and we are proud to be leading in this important work,” added Elizabeth Ng, Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Biomedical.

“The resurgence of Falciparum malaria worldwide is increasingly alarming and we are pleased to see Dr. Kurtis’ work receive this patent coverage for such an important discovery. We will work hard to accelerate the development of our novel vaccine candidate and this novel class of antimalarial antibodies to get a new treatment option for severe malaria available as soon as possible,” said Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria, co-founder and Executive Chairman.

Ocean Biomedical, Inc. is a Providence, Rhode Island-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.