NuvOx Pharma exclusively licensed United States Patent Application 20140004099 entitled “DODECAFLUOROPENTANE EMULSION AS A STROKE AND ISCHEMIA THERAPY” from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Dr. Evan Unger, President and CEO of NuvOx Pharma
Dr. Evan Unger, President and CEO of NuvOx Pharma, announced that effective November 1st, 2014, NuvOx Pharma exclusively licensed United States Patent Application 20140004099 entitled “DODECAFLUOROPENTANE EMULSION AS A STROKE AND ISCHEMIA THERAPY” from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Dr. Unger, of NuvOx, is a co-inventor on the patent application with Dr. William Culp and Dr. Robert Skinner of the University of Arkansas.
The investigators discovered that low doses of dodecafluoropentane emulsion (DDFPe) reduced brain damage from stroke by over 80%. Dr. Culp, Professor of Radiology and Surgery at the University of Arkansas is a pioneer in the treatment of stroke. He received an award from the Journal of Vascular Interventional Radiology, Editor’s Honoree for Laboratory Investigation for his paper entitled, “Dodecafluoropentane emulsion decreases infarct volume in a rabbit ischemic stroke model.”
Dr. Culp said, “I am very excited about the potential of DDFPe to improve outcomes in stroke. TPA is the only FDA approved drug for treating stroke. Nationally only about 6% of patients are treated with tPA because of the narrow time-window in which the drug can be administered to patients. TPA is approved for administration up to only 3-hours following stroke, but there is general consensus that it is useful up to 4.5-hours post stroke. We recently showed that administration of DDFPe extended the useful time-window for efficacy of tPA to at least 9-hours. DDFPe has the potential to greatly expand the number of stroke patients that can receive effective therapy.”
NuvOx is currently conducting a Phase Ib clinical trial of DDFPe in cancer. The company plans to conduct clinical testing of DDFPe in stroke in the future and the indication is available for licensing.