Benzinga | Sep 28, 2021 04:08PM EDT

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Highlights New Patent Issued By US Patent & Trademark Office 'covering its invention for improving delivery and extending half-life of both the cream and foam formulations of topical roflumilast'

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing meaningful innovations in immuno-dermatology to address the urgent needs of patients living with immune-mediated dermatological diseases and conditions, today announced a new patent issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering its invention for improving delivery and extending half-life of both the cream and foam formulations of topical roflumilast.

Arcutis is developing topical cream and foam formulations of roflumilast, a highly potent and selective phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitor (PDE4), to treat psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and seborrheic dermatitis. Clinical trial data has shown that Arcutis' topical roflumilast formulations are uniquely suited to address unmet patient needs without difficult trade-offs between efficacy, safety, and tolerability.

"We believe this new patent represents important additional protection for our unique, proprietary topical roflumilast treatment, and is separate and distinct from our formulation patents. While we believe our issued and pending formulation patents provide substantial protection for topical roflumilast, having this additional patent covering the unique pharmacokinetic characteristics of our treatment is meaningful additional protection," said Frank Watanabe, Arcutis' President and Chief Executive Officer. "This new patent also further validates Arcutis' dermatological development platform that builds on our deep dermatological expertise, which includes one of the foremost topical formulators and five dermatology clinicians on staff. With eight issued patents and additional pending patents, we expect patent protection at least into 2037."