Drug Delivery Business

Drug-Device Combinations

Ohio med-device start-ups win grants

By

MedCity News logo

By Mary Vanac

Two northeast Ohio start-ups that are developing treatments for psoriasis and for people who have trouble swallowing are getting $25,000 grants from the Innovation Fund of the Lorain County Community College Foundation.

Fluence Therapeutics Inc. of Akron, which has licensed photodynamic therapy technology from University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, is developing both a drug and a medical device to treat psoriasis. The company will use its grant for three things, CEO Warren Goldenberg said.

Alimera repays $15 million pSivida note

By

PSDV logo

pSivida Corp. (NSDQ:PSDV) reeled a $15.3 million payment from Alimera Sciences Inc. (NSDQ:ALIM) triggered by Alimera’s April 21 initial public offering.

The two companies are collaborating on a drug-device combination called Iluvien, designed to treat diabetic macular edema. Last week Alimera raised $72 million in its IPO, selling 6.6 million shares at $11 each.

Echo Therapeutics, Ferndale Pharma launch drug-device trial

By

ECTE logo

Echo Therapeutics Inc. (OTC:ECTE) and Ferndale Pharma Group Inc. enrolled the first patients in a clinical trial of Echo’s Prelude SkinPrep device and Ferndale’s 4 percent topical lidocaine, ahead of an application for 510(k) clearance for the drug-device combo from the Food & Drug Administration.

Franklin, Mass.-based Echo’s Prelude device is a needle-free, transdermal drug delivery system that ablates a thin layer of skin before a drug is applied.

pSivida aims to slow retinitis pigmentosa

By

pSivida logo

pSivida Corp. (NSDQ:PSDV) is touting a study of a drug-device combination that it says helps slow the advance of a degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa.

The disease involves the gradual deterioration of the rods and cones that make up the retina. Symptoms begin with night blindness and progress over years or decades to tunnel vision and, often, total blindness. CEO Dr. Paul Ashton told MassDevice that the Watertown, Mass.-based company’s Durasert is inserted into the back of the eye, where it slowly releases a steroid called fluocinolone acetonide.

Ajit Gill takes over for John Santini as the top man at MicroCHIPS

By

MicroCHIPS logo

As MicroCHIPS Inc. prepares to leave the laboratory and enter clinical development, the company is bringing in a new CEO to replace outgoing co-founder John Santini.

The Bedford, Mass.-based drug delivery systems developer tapped Ajit Gill, the former CEO of Auspex Pharmaceuticals and Nektar Therapeutics, for its corner office. In addition to his duties as president and CEO, Gill will also sit on the company’s board of directors.

MedInvent looks to breach the blood-brain barrier

By

MedCity News logo

By Thomas Lee

There’s a fine line between the nose and the brain. Actually, it’s called the olfactory nerve, which researchers believe can serve as an ideal way to deliver drugs to the central nervous system.

White Bear Lake, Minn.-based start-up MedInvent LLC hopes to ride the strong initial sales of its NasoNeb drug delivery device for sinusitis sufferers to eventually target neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and epilepsy.

Update: Isis Biopolymer raises another $3 million

By

Isis Biopolymer Inc., a company developing a new generation of non-invasive drug delivery patches, has raised $3 million through an equity sale to existing investors.

The Providence, R.I.-based firm has developed the Isis Patch, a compact, wireless, active iontophoretic patch using a design that implements advances in microprocessors, thin film batteries, biopolymers and adhesives.

In a statement sent to MassDevice, CEO Emma Durand said the current round “clearly shows the confidence of the investment community in Isis Biopolymer and our innovative transdermal drug delivery and biosensor technology.”

Echo Therapeutics readies Prelude SkinPrep for clinical trials

By

Echo Therapeutics Inc. (OTC:ECTE) reached a milestone with one of its two flagship products, the Prelude SkinPrep system, which is ready for clinical trials examining its use in dispensing lidocaine.

The Franklin, Mass.-based company, which is also developing a needle-free glucose monitoring system called the Symphony tCGM, said its development work on the Prelude system is complete and it’s ready for a study in the “near term.”

MicroCHIPS drums up another $16.5 million and a new investor

By

MicroCHIPS Inc. corraled a group of existing investors and roped in a new backer into the fold, adding $16.5 million to its coffers as it works toward bringing its platform monitoring and treatment implant technology to market.

Existing backers Polaris Venture Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, Flybridge Capital Partners, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), Saints Capital, Intersouth Partners, Care Capital and CSK Venture Capital all upped their investment in the Bedford, Mass.-based company. New backer InterWest Partners also chipped in.