Akston Biosciences Receives U.S. Patent for Once-A-Week Human Insulin
BEVERLY, Mass. – August 9, 2022 – Akston Biosciences Corporation, a developer of new classes of biologic therapeutics, today announced that it has recently been granted U.S. patent 11,352,407. The patent covers recombinantly manufactured ultra-long acting insulin Fc-fusion proteins for use as once-a-week insulin treatments for diabetes. These insulin Fc-fusion proteins comprise an insulin polypeptide connected via a peptide linker to an Fc-fragment of human origin.
This is the first patent granted to Akston covering once-a-week insulin Fc-fusion proteins for treating human diabetes and the lead compound covered by it, AKS-440, is in manufacturing development at Akston’s Beverly, Massachusetts facility. AKS-440 was designed using Akston’s proprietary Fc-fusion protein platform, which has been used to rapidly and efficiently generate candidate compounds for a diverse set of disease indications.
The company has previously been granted patents in both the U.S, and Europe covering once-a-week insulins for treating canine and feline diabetes. Akston has 17 issued patents world-wide covering not only these insulin therapy candidates but also a candidate in development designed to delay or prevent autoimmune diabetes, and a novel COVID-19 vaccine. The veterinary insulins have been licensed to Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC and the vaccine has been licensed to Biolexis, a division of the Strides Group, which plans to launch it as AmbiVax-C™ in global markets.
“This new patent demonstrates the value of Akston’s proprietary Fc-fusion protein platform,” said Todd Zion, Ph.D., President & CEO of Akston Biosciences. “We utilize the platform to tailor the different components of an Fc-fusion protein to optimize safety, efficacy, and manufacturability. Once a group of promising candidates is found, variants can be designed, synthesized, and tested to improve overall performance through a rapid and iterative process. This can significantly reduce the time and cost of developing vaccines and therapies.”
About Akston Biosciences Akston Biosciences Corporation leverages its novel Fc-fusion protein platform to develop and manufacture new classes of biologics, including vaccines, ultra-long-acting insulins, and autoimmune disease therapies. Founded by the team that developed the world’s first clinical glucose-responsive insulin at SmartCells, Inc. (sold to Merck & Co.), Akston owns and operates a GMP biologics cleanroom facility that manufactures kilogram-scale batches of drug substance. This, along with its research and process development laboratories, are located at its Beverly, Mass. location. Additional information is available at akstonbio.com.
Contact:
Linda Pendergast-Savage
Birnbach Communications for Akston Biosciences
1-508-224-7905
lpendergastsavage@birnbachcom.com