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Notes to Editors |
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About Archimedes Pharma
Archimedes Pharma is a pharmaceutical company marketing
an expanding portfolio of products to specialist prescribers
in major European territories whilst building a platform
for its future growth through the development of a high-value
pipeline from its world-class drug delivery technologies.
Archimedes’ strategy is to expand its current European
commercial presence through partnering and acquisition. It
is also building a robust pipeline of in-house products in
pain, Parkinson’s disease and critical care by applying
its drug delivery technologies to proven molecules which
have yet to achieve their market potential due to their current
mode of delivery. Archimedes’ lead product, NasalFent®,
intranasal fentanyl for rapid relief of breakthrough cancer
pain, is in Phase III clinical development. This product,
which has blockbuster potential, is targeted for launch in
2009.
Archimedes’ marketed products include
Gliadel, a biodegradable wafer impregnated with an anti-cancer
drug, carmustine, for high-grade glioma; Zomorph, an oral
sustained release morphine product for pain; Nozinan, a neuroleptic
used in psychiatry and as a supportive therapy for cancer
patients; and Pabrinex, a high potency vitamin formulation
used to treat the symptoms of malnutrition, especially in
patients with acute alcohol problems.
Archimedes’ drug delivery technologies - ChiSys®,
PecSys™ and TARGIT® - are also used in a number
of partnered products in late-stage clinical development.
Additionally, Archimedes’ innovative drug delivery
technology has proven potential for vaccine delivery, with
pre-clinical and clinical studies of nasally administered
vaccines demonstrating enhanced immune response.
Archimedes
Pharma is based in Reading, UK and has development facilities
in Nottingham, UK. The Company was founded in December 2004
and is backed by Warburg Pincus, a leading private equity
investor with extensive experience in the healthcare sector.
In 2007 Archimedes had sales of US$40 million.
About Archimedes Development Limited
Archimedes Development Limited (ADL) is a subsidiary of
Archimedes Pharma, a fast growing pharmaceutical company
focused on meeting the needs of specialist prescribers in
Europe. ADL is focused on partnering with companies which
have compounds which could benefit from its suite of world-class
drug delivery technologies. These comprise two cutting intra-nasal
delivery technologies ChiSys® and PecSys™ as well
TARGIT®, which is designed to deliver drugs to precise
regions of the large intestine. These technologies are able
to optimise the profile of a wide range of drugs by allowing
targeted or controlled release.
ADL’s world-class drug
delivery technologies have been validated in a series of
partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
ADL has a flexible approach to its partnering activities
and can apply its technologies to both existing and new therapeutic
products.
ADL currently has development deals in place
with a range of companies. Archimedes’ transmucosal enhancement
technology ChiSys® is being used by Javelin Pharmaceuticals
for its nasally-delivered morphine product, Rylomine™*
and PecSys™, a novel pectin-based nasal drug delivery
technology designed to maximise the potential of systemically
absorbed drugs by enhancing drug performance and improving
patient acceptance is also being used in other development
deals.
ADL also has a co-development and commercialisation
agreement with Pharmalink AB under which the two parties
are developing a TARGIT® formulation for an anti-inflammatory product
candidate. The TARGIT® technology is also licensed to
Invapharm for specific drug candidates for various indications.
About NasalFent®
NasalFent® is an innovative fentanyl citrate nasal spray
aimed at providing a fast, effective and convenient treatment
for breakthrough cancer pain – sudden, unpredictable
episodes of intense pain that occur despite background pain
medication and which can affect up to 95% of cancer patients
with pain.
NasalFent uses Archimedes’ proprietary PecSys™ nasal
drug delivery system to ensure rapid, but controlled, delivery
of fentanyl to match the time-course of the typical breakthrough
pain episode experienced by these patients. An international
Phase III clinical development programme is underway and
the product is targeted for launch in 2009.
Fentanyl is a highly effective opiate analgesic and is seen
as the drug of choice for breakthrough cancer pain. However,
there remains a need for a presentation that provides fast
and reliable onset of action coupled with ease of use and
high patient acceptability. Archimedes believes NasalFent
offers potential benefits over currently marketed oral and
injectable presentations in these key parameters. Phase II
results for NasalFent showed clinically meaningful pain relief
within five minutes of dosing and that the product is well-tolerated.
Archimedes will market NasalFent through its own commercial
organisation in Europe and is seeking licensees in North
America, Japan, the Far East and Latin America.
(*Rylomine is a trade mark of Javelin)
NasalFent® is
a registered trade mark of Archimedes Development Limited
in the EU, USA and certain other jurisdictions. |
