18 June 2013 - Biopharmaceutical company Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Inc (NYSE MKT:RNN) reported on Monday the receipt of the patent No. 8,404,698 from the US Patent and Trademark Office, covering the novel quinazoline compounds, their pharmaceutical composition and method for producing an anti-tumor effect.

With the grant of today's patent, the company has significantly expanded its intellectual property around a series of novel anti-tumor quinazoline compounds.

Rexahn said the series of compounds included in this issued patent are inhibitors of an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). EGFRs are cell surface receptors and mutations in these receptors can cause accelerated cell growth leading to lung and colon cancer. Mutated EGFRs account for approximately 30% of epithelial cancers.

In preclinical trials, the company's patented compounds have reportedly demonstrated oral bioavailability and anti-tumor activity in an animal model that did not respond well to Taxol, an oncology drug used to treat lung, breast and ovarian cancer.