SurModics Inc (SRDX)

[Democritus_of_Abdera]

Re: SCENESSE as a “lifestyle” drug...

Foolish, you’re suspicions are correct. There has been significant interest in using SCENESSE or its analogs as a lifestyle drug especially for tanning, but also for libido enhancement (see #msg-21802458). It’s not hard to find internet sites discussing off-label melanotan use (where melanotan is related to SCENESSE). And, there are iHub messages discussing this topic (for example see #msg-51797839 & #msg-51477051).

One of Clinuvel’s challenges appears to be expiration of the patent for the peptide sequence of at least some afamelanotide analogs (melanotan-1, for example; see http://rosacea-support.org/qa-with-clinuvel-on-afamelanotide-and-melanotan.html ).

To meet this challenge, Clinuvel has been patenting methods relating to the use of afamelanotide (see http://www.freepatentsonline.com/result.html?query_txt=clinuvel&sort=relevance&srch=top&search= )

Clinuvel has at least one competitor, Palatin, of about equivalent size (i.e. microcap). Quoting from Palatin’s latest 10K (of 9/28/09):

We <i.e. Palatin> currently have the following active drug development programs:
• Bremelanotide, a peptide melanocortin receptor agonist, for treatment of sexual dysfunction, targeting female sexual dysfunction (FSD) and erectile dysfunction (ED) in patients non-responsive to current therapies.
• PL-6983, a peptide melanocortin receptor agonist, for treatment of sexual dysfunction.
• PL-3994, a peptide mimetic natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPRA) agonist, for treatment of heart failure (HF).
• Melanocortin receptor-based compounds for treatment of obesity, diabetes and related metabolic syndrome pursuant to an ongoing research collaboration and global license with AstraZeneca AB (AstraZeneca).

I suspect that having a formulation using SRDX’s technology is of substantial importance to Clinuvel in that it helps to differentiate afamelanotide from competing and related melanocortin receptor agonists.