ILIAS Biologics Granted Key Patent for Exosome-based Drug Delivery System in the United States

July 7,2020

ILIAS Biologics Inc. (the "Company" or "ILIAS"), a global leader in exosome-based therapeutics, announced today that the Company has been granted a key exosome engineering patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). 

A patent for ILIAS's exosome engineering was previously granted in South Korea by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), and the Company has applied for the patents in 7 other countries as well. This latest patent is integral to the Company's EXPLOR® (EXosome engineering for Protein Loading via Optically Reversible protein–protein interaction) platform technology as well as the Exo-Target® products, as the patent covers not only EXPLOR® technology but also its application for various therapeutic cargo proteins developed by ILIAS for loading into exosomes.

EXPLOR® technology is a novel protein-loading method that enables active loading of large therapeutic cargo proteins into the lumen of exosomes—nanosized extracellular vesicles—through cellular biogenesis processes. This process involves controllable and reversible detachment of cargo proteins from the membrane of exosomes once they load into exosomes, which increases the efficiency of delivery of payload proteins into the cytoplasm or nucleus of target cells. While exosomes have been actively studied as novel therapeutic vehicles for intracellular drug delivery, the controllable loading of therapeutic cargo proteins as free forms in the exosomal lumen has remained a technical hurdle. ILIAS's technology provides a unique solution to overcome this challenge.

"This is a major accomplishment that allows the development of engineered exosomes as a new class of therapeutics," says Dr Chulhee Choi, ILIAS's Chief Executive Officer. "We are very pleased to see that by granting this patent, the United States patent office has recognized ILIAS's innovations in the exosome engineering space. By applying this technology to numerous intracellular target proteins with therapeutic potential, we will be able to achieve so many breakthroughs that couldn't be accomplished before."

ILIAS is developing various pipelines, with its anti-inflammation programs being the most advanced. Recently, the Company published promising preclinical data on its lead therapeutic candidate, ILB-202, in Science Advances, and is planning to start its first-in-human clinical trial in the year 2021.