Biotechnology company Nanollose (ASX:NC6) has been granted patent approval by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its sustainable fibre technology.

The patent application titled ‘Methods For Producing a Viscose Dope from Microbial Cellulose’ (US Patent Number 11,597,779) marks the company’s first granted patent in the US, and the third globally. It is also the first relating specifically to its fibre technologies.

The patent covers the company’s intellectual property (IP) footprint across its product suite and provides protection from potential competitors in the world’s largest consumer market.

“As well as expanding our international IP portfolio, formal approval from the USPTO marks another validation of the company’s innovative technologies”

Along with its 3 granted patents to date, Nanollose filed a joint application with Grasim Industries, a subsidiary of the Indian multinational conglomerate Aditya Birla group and parent company of Birla Cellulose which is Nanollose’s research partner in the development of the Tree-Free Nullarbor lyocell process.

The patent titled ‘A High Tenacity Regenerated Cellulosic Fibre’ waa filed globally through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) as WO 2022/1531701A in January 2022.

Commenting on the patent, Nanollose Executive Chairman Dr Wayne Best said: “We are pleased to confirm another patent granted for Nanollose’s suite of technologies, the first of our fibre technologies and the first in the US market.

As well as expanding our international IP portfolio, formal approval from the USPTO marks another validation of the company’s innovative technologies.

With patent approval now secured in the US for our microbial cellulose process for viscose, we remain excited by our pending patent suite, which includes the joint patent application filed globally with our long-term research partner Birla Cellulose, in connection with the ongoing development of Nanollose’s Tree-Free nullabor lyocell process.

We look forward to providing more updates on that R&D (research and development) program and other pending applications over the coming year.”

Together with its existing granted and pending patents, the joint application with Birla Cellulose forms part of the company’s targeted strategy to establish formal patent protection across its IP portfolio.

Nanollose says both parties remain committed to their long-term development partnership for the Nullarbor lyocell production process, which was formally established in January 2022.

Nanollose is a biotechnology company commercialising scalable technology to create fibres with minimal environmental impact. The company uses an ‘eco-friendly’ fermentation process to grow fibres that could become a sustainable alternative to conventional plant-derived cellulose fibres.

Cellulose is a hidden polymer building block that forms a large part of items used in everyday life such as clothing, paper, and hygiene products.