Akari Therapeutics Announces Patent Filing For Innovative ADC Platform Featuring Spliceosome Payload PH1 For Cancer Treatment

Akari Therapeutics, Plc, an oncology biotechnology company focused on developing novel payload antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), announced that it has filed a provisional patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The application covers the company’s ADC platform, which utilizes Akari’s spliceosome payload PH1 to treat cancer by modulating alternative splicing within cancer cells. This filing establishes a new patent family designed to extend Akari’s proprietary position around PH1, a novel Thailanstatin analog.

Abizer Gaslightwala, President and Chief Executive Officer of Akari Therapeutics, stated that the data included in the provisional application showcase the company’s progress in understanding spliceosome modulation and the potential of the PH1 payload. He explained that PH1 could enable the development of first-in-class ADCs with mechanisms different from existing treatments and potentially deliver superior clinical outcomes for cancer patients. Gaslightwala added that expanding the company’s intellectual property portfolio supports long-term value creation for Akari and its potential strategic partners, while ongoing research will continue to provide new insights and data on the PH1 payload.

The newly filed patent application highlights how Akari’s PH1 payload modulates the spliceosome to disrupt alternative splicing drivers, preventing the synthesis of proteins that cancer tumors rely on for survival and growth. Alternative splicing is a biological process that allows cells to produce different protein isoforms from a single gene. 

Cancer cells exploit this process to generate isoforms that sustain critical functions, such as uncontrolled growth, avoidance of apoptosis (programmed cell death), immune system evasion, metastasis to other tissues or organs, and resistance to current cancer therapies. Because alternative splicing affects many pathways involved in cancer progression, disrupting this process offers a broad and foundational strategy to target multiple types of cancer, including those driven by specific spliced variants like AR-v7 in prostate cancer or by other known factors such as VEGF, HER2, and Caspase-2.

This patent application builds on Akari’s existing research into PH1’s properties, which include potent cytotoxicity and strong immune cell activation demonstrated in multiple preclinical cancer models. The company is leveraging these findings to advance its ADC portfolio, which currently includes AKTX-101, a Trop2-targeting ADC with the PH1 payload, and AKTX-102, a future program targeting an undisclosed cancer marker. By expanding its intellectual property estate and deepening its understanding of alternative splicing, Akari aims to position itself as a leader in developing innovative therapies that address a wide range of cancers through spliceosome modulation.