Unicycive Receives US Patent on UNI-494 to Treat Acute Kidney Injury

Unicycive Therapeutics was granted a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office for UNI-494, a novel nicotinamide ester derivative and selective adenosine triphosphate-sensitive mitochondrial potassium channel activator. Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a critical role in the progression of acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease.

The US Food and Drug Administration recently granted UNI-494 orphan drug designation in delayed graft function, a form of AKI, in kidney transplant patients. The compound is currently the focus of a phase 1 dose-ranging safety study in the United Kingdom that is expected to be completed in the second half of 2024.

The new patent is valid until 2040 and secures protection of a method of treating a disease or a condition selected from AKI or contrast-induced nephropathy by administering the UNI-494 compound. UNI-494 is protected by issued patents in the United States and Europe and a wide range of patent applications worldwide.