Genprex, Inc., a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing therapies for patients with cancer and diabetes,  announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Notice of Allowance for a patent to Genprex that covers the use of the Company's lead drug candidate, Reqorsa^® Gene Therapy, in combination with PD-L1 antibodies, such as Tecentriq^®. Similarly, the European Patent Office has issued a Notice of Allowance to Genprex for a patent covering the use of REQORSA in combination with PD-1 antibodies. Both patents will expire in 2037 at the earliest.

"We are very proud to continue building a fortress of intellectual property protection around our oncology program for REQORSA, and these newly granted patents strengthen and expand our intellectual property estate for REQORSA in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors applicable to our Acclaim-3 clinical trial," said Thomas Gallagher, Esq., Senior Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing at Genprex.

Genprex has been granted patents for the use of REQORSA in combination with PD-L1 antibodies in Korea. Genprex is pursuing additional patent applications in Europe, Canada, Brazil, China and Israel. Should these applications grant, they would be applicable to Genprex's Acclaim-3 clinical trial.

Genprex has been granted patents for the use of REQORSA in combination with PD-1 antibodies in the U.S., Japan, Mexico, Russia, Australia, Chile, China, Korea and Singapore.

PD-L1 and PD-1 antibodies are a type of targeted immunotherapy and a part of a group of checkpoint inhibitor anti-cancer drugs that block the activity of PD-L1 and PD-1 immune checkpoint proteins present on the surface of cells.

The Acclaim-3 study is a Phase 1/2 clinical trial that uses a combination of REQORSA and Genentech's Tecentriq^® as maintenance therapy for patients with extensive stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) who are candidates for maintenance therapy after receiving Tecentriq and chemotherapy as initial standard treatment. The Acclaim-3 clinical trial has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Fast Track Designation for this patient population, and Acclaim-3 has received FDA Orphan Drug Designation.