Cellectar Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: CLRB) watched its shares skyrocket on Wednesday morning following the announcement of a patent. The company announced that it has obtained a patent that covers CLR 1603, a phospholipid ether-paclitaxel.

This specific phospholipid drug conjugate (PDC) product patent is based on one of a series of patent applications designed to protect both composition of matter and method of use for PDCs developed with Cellectar’s proprietary phospholipid-ether delivery vehicle conjugated with any existing or future cytotoxic agents, including chemotherapeutics such as paclitaxel, for targeted delivery to cancer cells and cancer stem cells.

The phospholipid ethers act as a cancer targeting drug vehicle, delivering cytotoxic compounds like paclitaxel directly to cancer cells, thus limiting the drug’s exposure to healthy cells and increasing the potency of the drug at lower concentrations.

Ultimately, the objective of the CLR CTX franchise is to develop PDC chemotherapeutics through conjugation of non-targeted anti-cancer agents with the company’s novel delivery vehicle with the goal of improving therapeutic indices, enhancing product profiles and expanding potential indications through targeted cancer cell delivery of chemotherapeutic payloads.

Jim Caruso, president and CEO of Cellectar, commented:

This first issued patent under our CLR CTX Chemotherapeutic program provides Cellectar and any future partners intellectual property (IP) protection through at least November 2035, allowing significant runway for product development and commercialization. Importantly, this IP protection further validates our delivery platform and strengthens the value-optimizing potential of our CLR CTX chemotherapeutic conjugate R&D program.

Shares of Cellectar traded up 20% at $3.78 early Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $2.50 and a 52-week trading range of $1.00 to $38.90.

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