US Patent Issued to Salix Pharmaceuticals on April 29 for "Methods of treating hepatic encephalopathy" (North Carolina Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,285,414, issued on April 29, was assigned to Salix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Bridgewater, N.J.).

"Methods of treating hepatic encephalopathy" was invented by William Forbes (Raleigh, N.C.), Kunal Merchant (Durham, N.C.), Enoch Bortey (Chapel Hill, N.C.) and Audrey Shaw (Durham, N.C.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The application describes treatment of hepatic encephalopathy using gastrointestinal specific antibiotics. One example of a gastrointestinal specific antibiotic is rifaximin. The instant application also provides methods for determining if a subject has a neurological condition or hepatic encephalopathy by determining the critical fl...