Confo Therapeutics Expands Patent Estate For ConfoBody®-Based GPCR Screening Platform

Ghent, Belgium, December 15, 2021 – Confo Therapeutics, a leader in the discovery of medicines targeting G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), today announced that it has extended its patent estate with four key US and EU patents granted as part of the company’s foundational “Steyaert patents”. The newly added patents (US-11,162,953, US-11,162,954, EP 3557254 and EP 3557255) cover Confo’s well-established small molecule screening capabilities, which led to the discovery of CFTX-1554, Confo’s pre-clinical AT2R antagonist for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Additionally, they cover Confo’s capabilities for generating therapeutic agonistic antibodies against GPCRs, which form part of Confo’s recently announced collaborative agreement with Regeneron, Inc.

The Steyaert patents, named after Prof. Jan Steyaert (VIB-VUB), the primary inventor and Confo’s scientific founder, encompass a series of patents and patent applications that cover the composition-of-matter and various uses of ConfoBodies®, immunoglobulin single variable domains capable of binding specific protein conformations, in structural biology and drug discovery. Confo Therapeutics holds the exclusive commercial rights to the Steyaert patent estate in the field of GPCR structure determination and drug discovery. Confo has now extended the coverage of the Steyaert patents with granted claims covering methods for screening GPCRs using ConfoBodies® as well as GPCR-ConfoBody® complexes that are used in such screening methods. The granted claims for GPCR-ConfoBody® complexes also cover other developments of the ConfoBody® platform, such as Confo’s proprietary ConfoScreen®, ConfoSensor®, ConfoChimer™ and ConfoStructure™ technologies.

“Our patent estate protects the ground-breaking potential of the ConfoBody® technology and resulting compounds first established by Prof. Steyaert and his collaborators. Our leadership position in GPCR-based drug discovery derives from our proven ability to leverage our proprietary technology to rapidly create a pipeline of new small-molecule and biologic drug candidates against GPCRs,” commented Cedric Ververken, Chief Executive Officer of Confo Therapeutics.

The Steyaert patents now comprise approximately 30 granted patents (13 US and 8 EU) and around 25 patent applications within 7 patent families worldwide.