Welwyn Garden City, UK, 25 January 2012 – Heptares Therapeutics, the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) drug discovery company, today announced that the first of a series of patent applications covering its methods for generating GPCRs with increased conformational stability (StaR® technology) has resulted in patents being granted in Europe (EP2121919) and Japan (JP4842400). This patent family is also pending in the United States and in other territories worldwide.

This patent family broadly covers methods for transforming GPCRs, which are highly unstable when removed from cellular membranes, into stabilised forms (StaRs®) corresponding to selected pharmacologically relevant conformations using any method of mutagenesis, expression or assay. The unique properties of StaRs® have enabled Heptares to build a powerful and integrated platform designed to exploit, for the first time, the full range of structure-based approaches for drug discovery. Using this approach, the Company is building a pipeline of first-in-class and best-in-class GPCR-targeted medicines, with a focus on CNS and metabolic indications.

Heptares’ patent strategy is central to it building a valuable position in the field of GPCR-targeted drug discovery. The EP2121919 and JP484200 patents are the first patents to issue from a series of patent applications designed to (1) cover multiple aspects of producing and using StaRs® in drug discovery, (2) protect individual StaRs®, and (3) protect novel drug leads that result from discovery programmes enabled by StaRs®.

“The grant of these key European and Japanese patents reinforces Heptares’ patent estate, which provides broad-ranging and multi-layered protection for the StaR® platform and its applications in GPCR-targeted drug discovery,” said Malcolm Weir, Heptares CEO. “StaRs® are crucial to unlocking the vast and relatively untapped GPCR universe and already their value is evident as we advance our own pipeline of leads and candidates alongside strategic alliances with leading pharma companies.”