Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHV), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company committed to the global development and commercialization of cytisine for smoking cessation, today announced that the UK Intellectual Property Office has granted Achieve a patent (no. 2550241) on cytisine succinate salt.

Cytisine is a plant-based alkaloid with a high binding affinity to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Achieve’s focus is to address the global smoking health epidemic through the development and commercialization of cytisine. Achieve has been pursuing cytisine succinate salt as a novel new drug product formulation that may further enhance cytisine product stability and long term potency. The Company expects to file the patent globally under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT, in the coming months.

“Achieve continues to expand its intellectual property portfolio in order to protect the value associated with its smoking cessation franchise,” commented Rick Stewart, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Achieve Life Sciences. “This becomes increasingly important as we continue to move forward and plan for the cytisine Phase 3 clinical development program in the U.S.”  

About Cytisine 

Tobacco use is currently the leading cause of preventable death and is responsible for nearly six million deaths annually worldwide¹. It is estimated that 28.6% of all cancer deaths in the U.S. are attributable to cigarette smoking².

Cytisine is a plant-based alkaloid with a high binding affinity to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Two prior, large-scale Phase 3 clinical studies of cytisine, with favorable outcomes, have been successfully completed in over 2,000 patients. The TASC trial was a 740 patient, double-blind, placebo controlled trial conceived by Professor Robert West at University College London and funded by the U.K. National Prevention Research Initiative. The CASCAID trial was a 1,310 patient, single-blind, non-inferiority trial comparing cytisine to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The CASCAID trial was conceived by Dr. Natalie Walker, National Institute for Health Innovation, University of Auckland and funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand. Both trials were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.