Benzinga | Oct 7, 2021 08:36AM EDT

Acer Therapeutics Receives Notice of Allowance Of Key U.S. Patent Application Covering ACER-001 Formulation

Acer Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ACER) ("Acer") and its collaboration partner, RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA ((SIX: RLF, OTCQB:RLFTF) ("Relief"), today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Notice of Allowance for Acer's patent application No. 17/196,416 for certain claims related to ACER-001 (sodium phenylbutyrate). The allowed patent claims in the application titled, "Palatable Compositions Including Sodium Phenylbutyrate and Uses Thereof," include pharmaceutical composition claims covering ACER-001's taste-masked, multi-particulate dosage formulation for oral administration.



The USPTO issues a patent Notice of Allowance after it determines a patent should be granted upon completion of any outstanding administrative requirements. Acer's patent is expected to be issued in the fourth quarter of 2021 and expire in 2036. If it receives marketing approval for ACER-001, Acer intends to submit the patent for listing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in its Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations, or Orange Book.

"We are extremely pleased to have received this Notice of Allowance from the USPTO for our proprietary formulation of ACER-001 as we continue to advance its development to potentially treat patients with Urea Cycle Disorders (UCDs), Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD) and other possible indications," said Jeff Davis, Chief Business Officer at Acer. "This Notice marks another important milestone in our pursuit of possible ACER-001 commercialization while we prepare to bring this treatment to UCDs patients, subject to FDA's approval of our ACER-001 New Drug Application."

Jack Weinstein, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Relief, added, "In parallel to the patent application efforts in the U.S., Acer and Relief are pursuing similar claims in the European Patent Office to cover ACER-001 as we continue to execute on our plan to submit a Marketing Authorization Application for ACER-001 for the treatment of patients with UCDs in Europe in Q2/Q3 2022."

Parties interested in the ACER-001 program for UCDs may sign up for updates at: https://www.acertx.com/rare-disease-research/acer-001-for-urea-cycle-disorders-ucds/

ACER-001 is an investigational product candidate which has not been approved by FDA, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or any other regulatory authority. There can be no assurance that this product candidate will receive regulatory authority approval for marketing in any territory or become commercially available for the indications under investigation.