Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc., a small stage biotechnology company, said the U.S. Patent and Trade Mark Office would issue a patent related to its investigational drug PEDMARK.

The company said it would receive U.S. Patent 10,792,363 entitled “Anhydrous Sodium Thiosulfate and Formulations Thereof.”

“As suggested by the title, the patent captures the unique anhydrous form of the active ingredient in Fennec’s PEDMARK product, as well as related methods of synthesis,” the release said.

PEDMARK is an investigational drug that hasn’t been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The drug was granted an orphan designation by the FDA in 2004. It aims to prevent platinum-induced otoxicity in pediatric cancer patients.

The company added that the patent is eligible for listing in the FDA’s Orange Book. The patent also plays into the company’s “strategy to expand and diversify its intellectual property portfolio to obtain protection for the PEDMARK product.”

Shares of Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. were last trading down 34 cents, or 3.98 percent, near $8.20 Monday afternoon.