Jaguar Health (NASDAQ:JAGX) shares lost a few points Wednesday, as its Napo Pharmaceuticals arm, announced that the Japan Patent Office has issued a new Japan patent to Napo for methods for treating short bowel syndrome (SBS), bile acid diarrhea, and diarrhea associated with small intestine resection or gallbladder removal, in patients with an inhibitor of chloride-ion transport such as crofelemer, Napo’s novel plant-based prescription drug.
“We are very pleased that this patent has been issued and believe that it further enhances our intellectual property protection for crofelemer for our core rare disease target indication of SBS,” said IP Officer Steven King.
Jaguar is supporting investigator-initiated and investigator IND proof-of-concept studies of crofelemer for SBS and microvillus inclusion disease (MVID) with intestinal failure in the US, European Union, and Middle East/North Africa (MENA) regions, with results expected before the end of 2023 and in 2024. In accordance with the guidelines of specific EU countries, published data from such clinical investigations could support reimbursed early patient access to crofelemer for SBS or MVID, potentially in 2024, for these debilitating conditions.
Napo currently holds approximately 146 patents and approximately 50 patents pending. To date, crofelemer is the only oral plant-based prescription medicine approved under the FDA’s Botanical Guidance, which provides an important additional exclusivity advantage due to the inherent practicalities limiting the pathway by which a generic version of the drug could be produced.
JAGX shares fell four cents, or 1.2%, to 34 cents.