Pardes Biosciences, a biopharma upstart based in Carlsbad, California, has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a new patent No. 11,124,497. The patent relates to compounds intended to inhibit the main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2.  

“This issued patent is the first from our growing IP portfolio and reflects our commitment to discovering and developing novel therapies for important unmet medical needs,” said Uri Lopatin, the company’s CEO, in a statement. 

The company filed its first patent applications in April 2020. Pardes was founded in late February.  

Last month, the company announced that it had launched a first-in-human trial for its SARS-CoV-2 antiviral. 

Oral antivirals offer promise in battling the pandemic in the long term in terms of reducing the severity of COVID-19 infections and potentially reducing transmission. 

“This goes back to breaking the [viral] replication machinery,” said Lopatin. If people infected with SARS-CoV-2 “are not making as much virus, they are less likely to infect other people,” he said. 

Notable companies such as Pfizer as well as Merck with partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, are also working to develop such antiviral therapies.