Ocean Biomedical, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCEA) shares cleared breakeven Thursday, on the announcement that Scientific Co-founder Dr. Jonathan Kurtis has been granted a new patent for his malaria vaccine discoveries that may be used to interdict the parasite at multiple stages in the malaria cycle. This extends patent protection for Dr. Kurtis’ novel discoveries that have defined the powerful roles of PfGARP and PfCDPK-5 in controlling the malaria parasite’s ability to aggressively multiply within its human host.
This patent adds to Ocean Biomedical’s global patent portfolio for discoveries with potential to impact major unmet medical needs in infectious disease, oncology, and fibrosis.
Ocean Biomedical’s breakthrough approach targets the blood-stage portion of the malaria lifecycle – the stage responsible for all clinical disease and death – and therefore has the potential of significantly greater efficacy compared with vaccines targeting other stages. Ocean Biomedical is working to optimize the formulation of this vaccine prior to IND submission and first-in-humans testing.
Malaria is the greatest single-agent killer of children on the planet, killing approximately 627,000 individuals in 2022. Artemisinin-based drug therapy remains the mainstay of treatment, but the spread of parasites resistant to this family of compounds threatens recent progress achieved by anti-malarial campaigns and underscores the urgent need to identify new anti-malarial drugs.
OCEA shares collected seven cents, or 1.3%, to $5.62.
