Salix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SLXP) is still working through issues that kept regulators from approving a drug for irritable bowel syndrome, but the North Carolina company is securing additional patent rights on the compound for other indications.
Morrisville, North Carolina-based Salix announced Wednesday that the U.S. Patent and Trade Office has issued three patents relating to rifaximin, a drug marketed as Xifaxan. The drug is already approved for treating traveler’s diarrhea and hepatic encephalopathy, a brain disorder associated with severe liver disease. Rifaximin is a gut-selective antibiotic with broad-spectrum activity against a range of pathogens. Salix’s bid to add irritable bowel syndrome as an indication for rifaximin was blocked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March.
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Salix said Wednesday that a patent has been granted for methods of treating traveler’s diarrhea with rifaximin. That patent expires July 24, 2029. Two other patents were issued relating to the pharmaceutical composition of rifaximin in multiple forms; one patent expires on June 1, 2025 and the other expires on June 19, 2024. Salix said those two patents provide protection for all indications for which rifaximin is currently being marketed, as well as all indications currently being assessed.
Salix has been strengthening its intellectual property position for rifaximin. The announcement of the three new patents follows the April 2 extension of an agreement with an Indian pharmaceutical partner granting Salix global rights to a drug-delivery technology that allowed for development of an extended-release rifaximin product. Salix previously only had U.S. rights to that technology.