Patent Application (International / PCT): PCT/US2025/013955
Publication Number: WO/2025/166111
Filing Date: January 31, 2025
Publication Date: August 7, 2025
Applicant / Assignee: Eli Lilly and Company
Inventors (examples): Riazul Alam, Guillermo S. Cortez, Yan Wang (et al.)
What This Patent Covers
This international patent application describes novel conjugates that incorporate a transferrin receptor binding protein — that is, molecules engineered to bind the transferrin receptor (TfR) along with one or more therapeutic payloads. This type of invention is critical in drug delivery technologies, especially for targeting difficult tissues such as the brain.
Key aspects likely covered include:
- Transferrin receptor binding proteins: These are peptides, antibodies, or other binding domains that interact with the TfR — a receptor widely expressed on cells (including blood–brain barrier endothelium).
- Conjugates: The patent focuses on fusion or linked constructs where the TfR binding domain is chemically or genetically linked to a therapeutic agent (e.g., a biologic, peptide, antibody, enzyme, or small molecule).
- Targeted delivery: By engaging the TfR, such conjugates can be transported into cells or across tissue barriers (notably the blood–brain barrier), enabling therapeutic access to tissues that are otherwise hard to reach with conventional drugs.
- Potential payloads: Although the published claims aren’t public in detail in the press summary, applications like this generally include methods of making and using the conjugates and may claim specific linkers, therapeutic agents, dosing regimens, and disease indications.
Why It’s Important
- Strategic drug delivery platform: Conjugates that use transferrin receptor targeting are among the most promising approaches for central nervous system (CNS) drug delivery and other hard-to-reach tissues — a major frontier in biopharma.
- High-value disease indications: If the conjugate enables delivery of biologics — such as antibodies or enzymes — into the brain, this could unlock treatments for serious neurological disorders (e.g., Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, lysosomal storage diseases), areas with huge unmet need and commercial potential.
- Broad applicability: Beyond CNS, transferrin receptor targeting can enhance delivery of therapeutics to tumors or across cellular barriers in other organs — offering potential advantages across oncology, immunology, and rare diseases.
- Positioning Lilly in advanced biologics: As Lilly expands into next-generation therapies (e.g., RNA therapies, targeted biologics), strong IP in delivery technologies can be a competitive differentiator and basis for partnerships or licensing.
Summary
Eli Lilly continues to lead in metabolic and biologics markets — highlighted by blockbuster weight-loss drugs and major M&A deals in gene editing and AI platforms (e.g., its acquisition of Verve Therapeutics) — but intellectual property around drug delivery platforms like transferrin receptor binding conjugates will be increasingly important to capture next-generation therapeutic modalities. This patent application, published in Nature’s patent listings for 2025, thus represents a significant piece of Lilly’s future biotech IP portfolio.
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