BioLineRx Issued Notice of Allowance by USPTO for Patent on Use of BL-8020 Treatment for Hepatitis C

BioLineRx Ltd.

, a biopharmaceutical development company, announced today that a Notice of Allowance has been issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for BL-8020, an orally available, interferon-free treatment for hepatitis C.  The patent covers the use of BL-8020 for treating HCV-infected patients non-responsive to an anti-HCV therapy (patients who failed to achieve a sustained virologic response following treatment). The patent will be valid until at least 2031. "We are very pleased to have received a Notice of Allowance from the USPTO for the BL-8020 patent. This is an important milestone in the development of this promising drug candidate," stated Dr. Kinneret Savitsky, Chief Executive Officer of BioLineRx. "HCV induces a chronic infection in more than half of individuals infected with the disease and, depending on the virus genotype, as few as 60% completely recover. In addition, current standard-of-care treatments are lengthy and not well tolerated. As a result, there is a clear need for therapeutics that can increase the effectiveness of existing treatments, especially in patients who have already undergone treatment, but have failed to respond or have