Eiger Biopharmaceuticals receives notice of allowance for hepatitis D treatment
July 31, 2018
Eiger BioPharmaceuticals received a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a patent claim on ritonavir-boosted lonafarnib for the treatment of hepatitis D, according to a press release.
“This method of use patent covers a range of ritonavir-boosted lonafarnib doses and durations, including specific doses that we anticipate will appear on the first label of lonafarnib for treatment of hepatitis delta virus infection,” David Cory, president and CEO of Eiger, said in the release. “This patent allowance is especially timely as we finalize the protocol for our single, pivotal registration study, D-LIVR, which we plan to initiate later this year.”
The company’s proprietary drug lonafarnib is an oral, small molecule farnesyl transferase inhibitor currently in development for HDV therapy, which Eiger plans to combine with AbbVie’s Norvir (ritonavir) for improved treatment results.
The U.S. FDA and European Medicines Agency previously granted orphan drug designation for lonafarnib, and the FDA granted a fast track designation.