The U.S. Patent Office granted Synthetic Biologics Inc. a patent for its SYN-005 preclinical drug candidate to treat or prevent whooping cough, especially in infants.

The patent is co-owned by the company with the University of Texas at Austin and licensed exclusively to Synthetic Biologics. It covers, among others, hu1B7, a component of SYN-005 that is the subject of an ongoing study.

Exclusivity provided by this new patent has an expiration date of 2035, which does not include a potential patent term extension.

Synthetic Biologics is developing the drug through its exclusive channel collaboration with Intrexon Corp. and academic researchers at the University of Texas at Austin to target and neutralize the whooping cough toxin in order to reduce morbidity and mortality in infected infants.

The U.S. FDA granted orphan drug designation to Synthetic's proprietary SYN-005 monoclonal antibody combination for the treatment of pertussis in September 2014.