Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Minneapolis Star Tribune on InnoRx / SurModics eye implant:

[Dr. Eugene de Juan of InnoRx was one of the first to go public with the details of Bausch & Lomb’s failure, noting that Bausch’s implant induced a large number of cataracts and glaucoma cases. Dr. de Juan thinks InnoRx’s implant will not have this problem, although that still has to be proven in the clinic.]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/

SurModics has eye on Alabama company

Janet Moore, Star Tribune
February 9, 2004

For several years, the project was known to only a few under a code name: Coyote.

No, it's not a spy novel. Or a top-secret Defense Department brief. It's an Alabama-based drug delivery company that attracted the eye of SurModics Inc., the Eden Prairie [MN] medical technology firm.

Perhaps an explanation is needed: SurModics, which develops coating processes for medical device manufacturers, is best known for providing the coating of Johnson & Johnson's drug-coated heart stent. Proceeds from the Cypher stent represent the company's largest revenue source.

Not too long ago, SurModics determined that it would not only invest in the cardiovascular market, but in evolving areas of orthopedics, neurology and ophthalmology.

That's were Mobile, Ala.-based InnoRx Inc. comes in -- or "Coyote" as it was known for many years inside SurModics, where code names, usually birds, trees, plants or animals, are used to protect the confidentiality of companies that are negotiating with the firm.

SurModics revealed at its annual meeting in late January that it will invest up to $3.5 million in InnoRx, which is known for developing novel therapies in the ophthalmology market.

"This is just a very natural extension of our technology," said SurModics' president and chief operating officer, Bruce Barclay. "We've been so successful in the vascular area and we do see this convergence of drugs and devices occurring in other markets, like ophthalmology."

Others -- including Bausch & Lomb Inc. and a recent IPO, Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Inc. -- have come up with their own treatments. [But Bausch’s treatment does not work so well –see #msg-2341249]

But Barclay is convinced SurModics and InnoRx have developed a superior system using an implantable coil to deliver drugs to the eye.

Most visual loss in the United States, Europe and Japan occurs in the back of the eye, an area that is notoriously hard to reach with drugs or drops used to treat retinal diseases, according to Dr. Eugene de Juan, InnoRx chairman and inventor of the drug-delivery system.

The system involves implanting a tiny drug-coated coil into the eye. The device can stay put for up to a year, Barclay said, in contrast to several competitors that rely on weekly injections in the eye, often an uncomfortable and inconvenient method of treatment.

"If you can figure out a way to deliver a drug over an extended period of time without having to go through repeated injections, compliance is much better, and patients get better much sooner. Everybody wins," Barclay said.

InnoRx will begin animal studies of the system in the first half of this year, and human clinical trials later in the year. The company believes the market for the treatment could reach into the billions of dollars.

"It is a market that they're not participating in right now and it's an area that's getting quite a bit of attention," said Tony Hall, an analyst with Craig-Hallum in Minneapolis. "It's a big market. Pretty much anybody that has a presence in ophthalmology probably has a program for treating retinal disease because it's one of the few wide-open areas in medicine left." [Good tag line!]
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[Thanks to ‘megley’ on the SRDX board for this find.]