In 2015, GSNO Therapeutics started its chemistry discovery program at its laboratory at the University of Illinois Incubator in Chicago. To date, that program has discovered a novel core structure that has been elaborated to produce numerous second and third-generation GSNOR inhibitors that are novel compositions of matter with nanomolar IC50s and potent therapeutic activity by oral, topical, I.V., inhalation, intravitreal, and I.P. routes of administration.
The priority date for GSNO Therapeutics’s patent application on its novel core structure and related compounds is April 11, 2017, and claims composition of matter and therapeutic uses for many compounds derived from it. The structures were discovered from structure-activity relationships for the GSNOR active site and are proprietary to GSNO. The Company has X-ray crystallographic images of the enzyme with some of its inhibitors sitting in the active site. That information enables us to rationally design novel structures that block GSNOR activity. Three more patent applications in that series were filed in 2017. An international filing of the primary patent was made in 2019 in all major jurisdictions.