Altimmune Announces Important Additions to its Patent Portfolio for HepTcell and ALT-702 Programs

GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 05, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Altimmune, Inc.(Nasdaq: ALT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, today announced that it has received additional patent protection for its HepTcell and ALT-702 programs in the United States.

“We are pleased to strengthen our intellectual property protection with the additional patents covering our development candidates, HepTcell and ALT-702,” said Vipin K. Garg, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer. “This is an important step in advancing the development of both these programs and we anticipate achieving significant milestones during the next 12 to 18 months.”

HepTcell

For HepTcell, the Company has been granted U.S. Patent No. 10,300,132 entitled “Vaccines Against Hepatitis B Virus.” The patent, which expires in 2035 accounting for 515 days of patent term adjustment, provides important additional IP protection for the HepTcell clinical development program, an immunotherapeutic being developed for patients chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (“HBV”). HepTcell utilizes the Company’s Densigen technology platform, for which the Company has already been granted patents covering intracellular delivery of peptides in the U.S., Europe, Japan and China.

HepTcell is a specific HBV immunotherapeutic designed to drive CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses against all HBV genotypes in patients of all ethnic backgrounds. HepTcell focuses the immune system on discrete highly conserved regions of the HBV proteome. The Company believes its approach allows HepTcell to activate less tolerized T cells resulting in greater activity and decreased probability of immune escape due to viral mutation. In a recent Phase 1 study, T cell responses against HBV markedly increased over baseline compared to placebo. Altimmune is currently advancing this program into Phase 2 clinical development.

ALT-702

For ALT-702, the Company received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for patent application No. 15/968,839, entitled “Immunogenic Compound” (the ‘839 application). Once issued, the allowed claims of the ‘839 application will provide IP coverage for the ALT-702 development program, a targeted tumor immunostimulant designed to act locally to reverse local immunosuppression within the tumor microenvironment and stimulate antitumor immune responses. The Company has already been granted U.S. Patent No. 9,962,453 covering immunostimulatory compounds, including ALT-702.

ALT-702 is based on a new synthetic peptide conjugate technology platform that is designed to retain and concentrate immunostimulants within a tumor leading to enhanced immune stimulation without the safety risk of systemic inflammation. ALT-702 represents a new approach in immuno-oncology that can act alone or improve the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors, oncolytic viruses and other approaches in immuno-oncology. The Company has initiated the pre-clinical development of ALT-702 and expects to provide an update later this year.

About Altimmune

Altimmune is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of products to stimulate robust and durable immune responses for the prevention and treatment of disease. HepTcell is a synthetic peptide immunotherapeutic candidate designed to break immune tolerance in chronic Hepatitis B infection. ALT-702, a TLR7/8 agonist conjugate, is a tumor immunostimulant product candidate that has the potential to safely elicit or improve immune responses in a variety of cancer indications. NasoVAX, our influenza vaccine candidate, has unique characteristics that stimulate multiple arms of the immune system and offers the potential to stop infection and the spread of flu, while being easier to administer through an intranasal route. NasoShield is a next-generation intranasal anthrax vaccine candidate that is designed to provide more rapid and stable protection than the only approved anthrax vaccine. By leveraging the complementary attributes of its proprietary technology platforms, Altimmune is able to design and develop immunotherapeutic products tailored to address a wide range of disease indications including both acute and chronic infections and cancer.  For more information on Altimmune, please visit the website www.altimmune.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Any statements made in this press release relating to future financial or business performance, conditions, plans, prospects, trends, or strategies and other financial and business matters, including without limitation, the timing and achievement of significant milestones for our clinical assets, the issuance of a patent to provide IP coverage for the ALT-702 development program and the timing of updates for our pre-clinical development of ALT-702 are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition, when or if used in this press release, the words “may,” “could,” “should,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “predict” and similar expressions and their variants, as they relate to Altimmune, Inc. (the “Company”) may identify forward-looking statements. The Company cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, which change over time. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or historical experience include risks and uncertainties, including risks relating to: the reliability of the results of the studies relating to human safety and possible adverse effects resulting from the administration of the Company’s product candidates; delays caused by third parties challenging government contracts awarded to the Company; the receipt of future potential payments under government contracts or grants; the Company’s ability to identify potential future government contracts or grant awards; the Company’s ability to obtain potential regulatory approvals on the timelines anticipated, or at all; the Company’s ability to obtain additional patents or extend existing patents on the timelines anticipated, or at all; the Company’s ability to expand its pipeline of products and the success of future product advancements, including the success of future clinical trials, and the Company’s ability to commercialize its products; unforeseen safety and efficacy issues; and the Company’s ability to continue to satisfy the listing requirements of the NASDAQ Global Market. Further information on the factors and risks that could affect the Company’s business, financial conditions and results of operations are contained in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, which are available at www.sec.gov.

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Source: Altimmune