Progenra receives patent on novel anti-cancer compounds

Malvern, PA, March 25th, 2014 – Progenra, Inc. has been awarded a composition of matter patent covering their first series of small molecule USP7 inhibitors. The highly conserved ubiquitin pathway plays an important role in the regulation of cellular activity and prior work by Progenra and others identified the deubiquitylating enzyme USP7 as a key regulator of this pathway. Dysregulated USP7 activity has been implicated in cancer, inflammation and other diseases. The issued patent, entitled “Anti-neoplastic compounds, compositions and methods” (US 8,680,139), covers the small molecule USP7 inhibitor P0005091 and related structures.

Progenra’s President & CEO, Dr. Tauseef Butt commented, “We are excited that this patent covering Progenra’s first series of USP7 inhibitors has been issued. This patent represents a significant body of work on which Progenra and our collaborators are currently building by pursuing new USP7 inhibitor scaffolds.”

About USP7. USP7 is a well validated cancer target, enhancing the levels of the proto-oncogene HDM2 and reducing the levels of the tumor suppressor p53. Recently USP7 was demonstrated to suppress immune cell activation, expanding the relevance of this therapeutic target to immunooncology. For more information about USP7 and P0005091 please refer to www.progenra.com.

About Progenra, Inc. Founded in 2002, Progenra (www.progenra.com), a privately held company, aims to discover and develop novel medicines exploiting ubiquitin pathways. Utilizing the company’s UbiPro™ Drug Discovery Platform, Progenra and its partners have identified and are developing novel modulators of therapeutically relevant ubiquitin targets.

Contacts
Progenra Inc.
Jeff Marblestone
Manager Business Development
610 644 6974 X317
marblestone@progenra.com