Yahoo Finance published: Working with Professor Steve Wicks and his team at the University of Greenwich, Curadev developed a new method for producing sulphoalkyl ether β-cyclodextrins. The method also enabled the production of SBE-β-CD with a high average degree of substitution (ADS), something which was not previously possible. This is particularly advantageous as it is thought that increasing the ADS of SBE-β-CD will decrease its toxicity. Curadev applied for and were granted a European patent on 18 April 2018 which protected both the method of producing SBE-β-CD and the novel SBE-β-CD compositions per se having a high (ADS).
Curadev successfully defended a challenge to the patent from Ligand Pharmaceuticals at an opposition hearing held by the European Patent Office and attended by representatives for both Curadev and Ligand on 18 May 2021.