York-based life sciences firm Aptamer Group plc announced it has filed a patent application to protect its recently developed Optimer binder sequences for novel applications in fast moving consumer goods generated as part of its partnership with Unilever.

“Submission of this patent application reinforces the ongoing commercial protection of Aptamer Group’s leading technology position in the development of high-performance binders,” said the firm.

“Aptamer Group developed the binders as part of a fee-for-service project and has continued to support Unilever in validating the functionality of the binders both in-house at Aptamer Group and within Unilever’s own labs.

“Submission of the patent at this stage establishes a ‘priority date’ for the binder sequences, giving Aptamer Group precedence for the protection of the intellectual property while allowing commercial negotiations to continue.”

Dr Arron Tolley, Chief Technical Officer of Aptamer Group, said: “The submission of this patent is an important milestone for Aptamer Group and supports the next stages of commercial advancement with Unilever.

“We are really pleased with the work performed by our scientists and those at Unilever over the past few months to demonstrate the use of these Optimer binders and their suitability for application in fast moving consumer goods.

“We will continue to work closely with the team at Unilever to support their use of the binders in this exciting new application.” 

Dr Samantha Samaras, Senior Vice President of R&D at Unilever, said: “Over the past 12 months we have been working with the excellent team at Aptamer Group to discover, develop and exploit their Optimer binders for cosmetic applications. We look forward to continued collaboration in this exciting applications space.”