MediciNova Receives Notices of Allowance from European Patent Office

MediciNova

today announced that it has received Notices of Allowance from the European Patent Office (EPO) for two pending patent applications. One covers the use of ibudilast (MN-166) in drug addiction and the other provides for ibudilast use to enhance opioid analgesia in acute pain settings. MN-166 is the company's lead drug development candidate for certain neurological conditions, including progressive multiple sclerosis, drug addiction, and pain. "Along with our recent EPO allowance for the use of ibudilast in progressive multiple sclerosis, these drug addiction and pain patent allowances solidify our exclusivity in that region for all the core development areas of the MN-166 program," noted Kirk Johnson, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer and co-inventor. A patent maturing from the allowed application for drug addiction is expected to expire no earlier than 2026 and is a counterpart of an issued U.S. patent expiring no earlier than 2030. The patent application related to the use of ibudilast in acute pain conditions resulted from collaborative pre-clinical studies with renown pain researchers at the University