Coronado Biosciences, Inc.’s (CNDO) shares have moved up 5.71% since the company announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (:USPTO) has granted a second key patent for its novel oncology candidate, CNDO-109.

The USPTO has also issued a Notice of Allowance for an additional pending composition-of-matter patent application. CNDO-109 annihilates cancer cells by activating the natural killer (:NK) cells of the immune system. The first key patent covering CNDO-109, granted in Sep 2012, is related to the preparation of activated NK cells.

Coronado Biosciences acquired worldwide development and commercialization rights to CNDO-109 from the University College of London (:UCL) Business in Nov 2007.

CNDO-109 is currently being evaluated in a phase I/II dose escalation study for the treatment of minimal residual disease in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (:AML). In an earlier phase I investigator-sponsored study (n =8), it was observed by the investigators that more number of patients experienced longer complete remission using CNDO-109 than their previous complete remission.

In Jun 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (:FDA) had granted orphan drug designation to CNDO-109 for the treatment of AML.

In preclinical studies, CNDO-109 has shown encouraging activity in other indications as well including multiple myeloma, breast cancer, prostate cancer and ovarian cancer.

Coronado Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company, currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other biopharma stocks, worth considering, include Gentium (GENT), Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. (EBS) and Actelion Ltd. (ALIOF). All three sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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