BioSenic receives key European patent from EPO, for further therapeutic development in cancer, infectious and immune diseases

• Patent covers the therapeutic use of a new composite formulation of anti-inflammatory compounds with unique advantages
• BioSenic’s new formulation lowers the dosage of arsenic trioxide by combining it with copper salts to maintain therapeutic efficacy, with the potential of administration through multiple routes, including intravenous, oral and other novel routes of administration

Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, April 18, 2023 – BioSenic (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BIOS), the clinical stage company specializing in serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and cell repair, today announces the issuance of a key new patent entitled ‘Use of metal ions to potentiate the therapeutic effects of arsenic’ (EP3972613) by the European Patent Office (EPO).

BioSenic has recently announced the publication of new data on the mechanism of action of arsenic trioxide (ATO) on 30 March 2023. This data has been published in peer-reviewed international journals in 2022 and 2023. As a result, BioSenic has developed a patent for its ATO combines with copper discoveries and potential applications, particularly in the fields of cancer and autoimmunity.

This specific new key patent issued by the EPO continues BioSenic’s Group intellectual portfolio strategy involving further patent applications in other regions. These patents will accompany the implementation by BioSenic of international clinical trials in pathologies with clear unmet medical needs. These clinical trials will support BioSenic’s aim of generating clinical data to support further market access approvals.  

“BioSenic's new EPO patent, which has been granted for the 27 European countries, opens new avenues for the treatment of diseases with clinical unmet medical need in the field of immunity. This patent involves two main areas of application. The first is in innate, adaptive and trained immunity, and the second is in oncology, where arsenic trioxide has already demonstrated results for patients with acute promyelocytic leukaemia. These diseases affect a significant percentage of the world's population, and autoimmune diseases in particular lead to chronic illnesses with, all too often, severe prognostics,” said François Rieger, PhD, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BioSenic. “By achieving further understanding of the multiple effects of arsenic combined with copper and associating this with a new intellectual property of BioSenic, we will now be able to advance innovative treatments to meet the needs of many patients with challenging diseases that lack medical support.”

The results recently generated by BioSenic and published in two scientifically renowned peer-reviewed international journals demonstrate the benefits of using a combination of arsenic trioxide and copper salts in preclinical models of autoimmune diseases. These diseases include chronic graft versus host disease (Frontiers in Immunology, 2022), and systemic sclerosis (Frontiers in Medicine, 2023). These results provide data to support the potential of this combination therapy will be translate by BioSenic into clinical trials.

The expected availability of an oral formulation that combines arsenic and copper puts BioSenic in a unique position to build on clinical successes in lupus and Graft versus Host Disease therapy. As a result, BioSenic will be able to continue clinical development with proprietary formulation containing less arsenic and that minimizes secondary side effects.