Ocean Biomedical, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCEA) shares gain sharply Thursday. The biopharma company working to accelerate the development and commercialization of scientifically compelling assets from research universities and medical centers, announced today that its Scientific Co-founder and a member of its board of directors, Jonathan Kurtis, MD, PhD, received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for his U.S. patent application covering a therapeutic and prophylactic monoclonal antibody that kills falciparum malaria parasites.
A Notice of Allowance is issued after the USPTO examines a patent application and determines that the applicant should be granted a patent from the application. Ocean Biomedical anticipates that a patent will be issued by the USPTO from Dr. Kurtis’ application in the coming months.
“Building on his groundbreaking discovery that PfGARP is potentially a highly effective vaccine target for malaria,” reads this morning’s news release, “Dr. Kurtis has now discovered and produced a monoclonal antibody that binds to PfGARP and triggers the malaria parasite to kill itself. This new patent allowance will allow Dr. Kurtis’ team to pursue development of this monoclonal antibody as both a potential therapeutic drug for individuals with severe malaria infection as well as a potential short-term prophylactic treatment to prevent malaria infection in travelers, overseas deployed military and government personnel, and individuals living in areas with short malaria transmission seasons.”
OCEA shares popped $1.38, or 31%, to $5.87.
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