Aegis Therapeutics’ Intranasal Drug Delivery System Gaining Ground

PharmaManufacturing.com
08/04/2005

Aegis Therapeutics announced August 1 that it has entered into a licensing agreement for its patented Intravail drug delivery technology for application to several undisclosed pediatric therapeutics being developed by an unnamed partner.

In June, San Diego, Calif.-based Aegis reported the expansion of its earlier licensing agreement with Intranasal Technologies Inc., to include beta-interferon and low-molecular-weight heparin. Since then, Aegis has initiated feasibility studies on a growing number of additional peptide and protein therapeutics for several pharmaceutical clients.

Aegis' Intravail technology allows intranasal delivery of peptide and protein therapeutics that are otherwise deliverable only by injection and speeds the onset of action of small molecule drugs as well. Since licensing, exclusively, the original patented Intravail technology for transmucosal delivery of drugs developed at the University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham, Aegis has filed more than a half dozen additional patent applications to significantly expand the scope and geographic coverage of its claims.

"Intravail will eliminate the need for injections, once and for all, for a number of key therapeutics important to pediatric medicine," said Donald Grimm, Aegis' Executive Chairman, Director of Hamilton BioVentures, and former senior Eli Lilly pharmaceutical executive. "Patient comfort, ease of use, and acceptance, are key to long-term compliance and effective medical treatment in adults and children alike."

Grimm further commented: "This agreement not only underscores our commitment to helping physicians and patients achieve these ends in pediatric medicine, but is also an important step in achieving our goal of broadly enabling intranasal delivery of peptide and protein therapeutics for many companies across the entire pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical spectrum."