Woburn, Mass. – March 5, 2020 − Aphios Corporation announced today that it has been granted Hong Kong Standard Patent No. 16104870.9 by the Intellectual Property Office of Hong Kong. The patent is entitled “Bryoid Compositions, Methods of Making and Use Thereof,” for the composition of matter of a novel Bryostatin, method of manufacturing and use in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, virus latency diseases, cancer and amyloid mediated diseases.

This patent is part of a family of patents in Europe (European Patent No. 2,925,315, January 16, 2019), Japan (Japanese Patent No. 6,440,628, November 30, 2018) and China (Chinese Patent No. ZL201380069328.2, October 19, 2018). Aphios is developing these compounds for Alzheimer’s Disease, HIV-1 latency and Multiple Sclerosis, and is seeking collaborative research partners.

Bryoids consist of a family of Bryostatins, such as Bryostatin-1, that are complex cyclic macrolide molecules. Bryoids were originally isolated from the marine bryozoan, Bugula neritina. Twenty-one Bryoid compositions, known as Bryostatins and numbered 1-21, not including the present novel Bryostatin, have been identified. Many of the Bryoids are known to possess anticancer properties.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson, Down syndrome, Hutchinson, Multiple Sclerosis, Kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and other spongiform encephalopathies remain major health problems. Currently there are very limited means to treat these diseases. The neurogenerative diseases are associated with the formation of beta amyloid (β-amyloid) plaques. Bryoids stimulate the production of certain isoforms of protein kinase C (PKC) that increase the production of alpha-secretase (α-secretase) which makes soluble amyloid precursor protein, thus inhibiting the formation of beta amyloid plaques. With respect to cancers such as prostate cancer, Bryoids inhibit phorbol ester-induced apoptosis in prostate cancer cells by differentially modulating protein kinase C delta (PKC-) translocation and preventing PKC--mediated release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα). With respect to latent virus diseases such as HIV-1 latency, Bryoids activate cellular transcription factors such as NF-κB (nuclear factor kappa of activated B-cells) that binds the HIV-1 promoter and regulates its transcriptional activity. In HIV-1 latency the viral promoter is less accessible to cellular transcription factors because nuclear histones surrounding the viral promoter are deacetylated (compacted chromatin). Thus, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors increase the acetylation of histones (relaxed chromatin) allowing transcription factors easier access to the HIV-1 promoter.

According to Dr. Trevor P. Castor, President and CEO, Aphios Corporation, and inventor of this patent: “This Bryoid, Bryostatin-22, is a highly potent nanomolar activator of -secretase activity in neuroblastoma cell models, being more effective than Bryostatin-1 at increasing activity of all PKC isoforms, particularly the novel PKC isoforms, delta and epsilon. Aphios plans to develop this compound for Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, HIV-1 latency and other diseases, and is seeking collaborative research and licensing partners.”

About Aphios Corporation: Aphios Corporation (www.aphios.com) is a clinical stage, green biotechnology company developing enabling technology platforms for improving drug discovery, manufacturing, delivery and safety, and enhanced natural therapeutics for health maintenance and disease prevention, and the treatment of cancers and supportive care, infectious diseases such as HIV, and CNS disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and opioid addiction.

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