Replies to post #36916 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

OCCX – By the way, isolution, do you concur with my assessment that Occulogix (formerly RHEO) is a scam?

On their CIBC webcast (in progress now), OCCX called Asahi Kasei Medical, the company that supplies the rheopheresis filters, as their clinical “partner.” I thought that was amusing.

They also cited as scientific justification for what they are doing a published article in, you guessed it… the Journal of Clinical Apheresis :-)

They continue to talk about their failed phase-3 clinical trial as though it was a success.

[DewDiligence]

EyeGate Pharma adds iontophoresis expert to SAB.

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070620/0268447.html

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EyeGate Pharma Appoints Richard Guy to Scientific Advisory Board and Announces Collaborative Research Agreement With University of Bath

Wednesday June 20, 8:30 am ET

WALTHAM, MA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jun 20, 2007 -- EyeGate Pharma, a privately held, specialty pharmaceutical company pioneering the use of iontophoresis technology to safely and non-invasively deliver therapeutics for ocular indications, today announced that Richard Guy, Ph.D., a leading expert on iontophoretic drug delivery and Professor at the University of Bath, UK, has been appointed to EyeGate's Scientific Advisory Board.

Stephen From, President and Chief Executive Officer of EyeGate, commented, "Dr. Guy is one of the world's leading experts on dermal iontophoretic drug delivery. EyeGate is the first company to succeed in proof-of-concept studies using iontophoresis technology to safely deliver therapeutics to the eye. Our collaboration with Dr. Guy and his colleagues at the University of Bath will focus on determining the differences and similarities between dermatologic and ophthalmic iontophoretic drug delivery."

Dr. Richard Guy added, "Ocular iontophoretic drug delivery is not a new concept. It has taken nearly twenty years to perfect, but EyeGate is succeeding where others have failed. I believe that EyeGate's success is due to the fact that the technology was designed with ophthalmologists, and not merely an attempt to apply what's known about the skin to the eye. I look forward to working closely with Stephen and his team to expedite the commercialization of the EyeGate® II Delivery System."

Richard Guy received an M.A. in Chemistry from Oxford University and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of London. He was a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco, for 16 years, and Vice Chair of the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences for much of that time. Dr. Guy then served as Scientific Director of the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d'enseignement (Universities of Geneva and Lyon) and Professor in the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Geneva. In 2004, he became Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Bath and is currently Head of the Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology. He remains an Adjunct Professor of Biopharmaceutical Sciences at UCSF. In 1994, Dr. Guy co-founded De Novo, Inc., a start-up company focused on the development of novel dermatological therapies.

Dr. Guy is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was the first recipient of the Controlled Release Society's Young Investigator Award in 1988, the same year that he won the British Pharmaceutical Conference Science Award. Dr. Guy was awarded, for his work in iontophoresis, the Prix Applications Médicales de l'Electricité, by the Institut Electricité Santé, Paris, France. In 2000, Dr. Guy received the International Association for Pharmaceutical Technology (APV) Research Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Pharmaceutical Sciences.

About EyeGate Pharma

EyeGate Pharma was founded in 1998 with technology licensed from Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami. EyeGate's transscleral (across the sclera, or white protective outer membrane of the eye) iontophoresis delivery platform, the EyeGate® II Delivery System, was designed by ophthalmologists for ophthalmologists. This non-invasive system can be applied to safely deliver a wide range of therapeutics to both the anterior and posterior chambers of the eye. An 89-patient pilot study, using the Company's first-generation delivery device, demonstrated exceptional patient tolerance with a significant decrease in inflammatory markers and a concurrent increase in visual acuity. A typical application takes less than five minutes and has been shown to be extremely well tolerated in patients suffering from severe uveitis and other inflammatory ocular diseases. Clinical studies using the EyeGate® II Delivery System are planned for 2008. For more information please visit www.eyegatepharma.com.
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[DewDiligence]

EyeGate Pharma Initiates Phase-1 Study of Iontophoresis Delivery System

[This is the second generation of the company’s delivery system, but I’m not sure how it differs from the first generation.]

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080414/0386024.html

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Monday April 14, 8:01 am ET

WALTHAM, MA--(MARKET WIRE)--Apr 14, 2008 -- EyeGate Pharma, a privately held, specialty pharmaceutical company using iontophoresis technology to safely and non-invasively deliver therapeutics into the front and back of the eye for treating serious ocular diseases, today announced the initiation of a Phase I clinical study designed to assess the safety and tolerability of the non-invasive EyeGate® II Ocular Drug Delivery System in up to 95 healthy adult volunteers. This is a single center, randomized, single masked, comparative-group safety and tolerability study of a range of single iontophoretic dose levels with a citrate buffer via the EyeGate® II Delivery System.

Stephen From, President and Chief Executive Officer of EyeGate Pharma, commented, "Today, ophthalmologists and their patients have limited drug delivery options because eye drops are largely ineffective and are removed naturally from the eye, and ocular injections and implants are highly invasive and present serious safety issues. The need for an effective, patient friendly, non-invasive alternative that offers a safer, more convenient method of delivering drugs to the eye is obvious. The EyeGate® II Delivery System represents a fundamental advance in non-invasive ocular drug delivery and EyeGate Pharma is accelerating the commercialization of this novel technology as a potential alternative to current ocular delivery methods."

Mike Patane, Chief Scientific Officer of EyeGate Pharma, added, "This GCP Phase I study is designed to establish the maximum tolerated current that can be employed during iontophoretic treatment with the EyeGate® II Delivery System. It is an important step in understanding the parameters of the technology prior to initiating two Phase II clinical trials planned for 2008 in severe uveitis and dry eye patients."

This Phase I study will build on an earlier study designed to assess the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of EyeGate's first generation iontophoretic drug delivery device. Eighty-nine patients with severe ocular inflammation participated in the study, which involved a total of 216 methylprednisolone hemisuccinate (HPM) applications. HPM (Solu-Medrol®) is an anti-inflammatory corticosteroid that has been effective in treating corneal graft rejections, uveitis, and other inflammatory diseases. The study demonstrated exceptional patient tolerance with significant decreases in inflammatory markers and concurrent increases in visual acuity.

About Iontophoresis

The EyeGate® II Delivery System works through iontophoresis, a technology currently used to transdermally deliver certain pain medications, such as fentanyl, and anti-inflammatories including corticosteroids. Iontophoretic drug delivery occurs when an applied electric field enhances the mobility of molecules through cells and tissues primarily through electrochemical repulsion. Specifically, an electrical field created by a low level of electrical current creates an electrical field that repels like-charged ionized drugs; thus, more effectively delivering drug substances through different tissues to targeted areas in efficacious quantities. These principles can be applied to anionic and cationic molecules.

To deliver a therapeutic to both the anterior and posterior tissues of the eye, the drug must be specially adapted and formulated for iontophoretic delivery. EyeGate has concentrated its efforts on optimizing the EyeGate® II Delivery System to deliver a wide range of therapeutics while developing a highly specialized laboratory dedicated to formulating drugs for iontophoretic delivery.

About EyeGate Pharma

EyeGate Pharma was founded in 1999 with technology licensed from Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami. EyeGate's transscleral (white membrane of the eye) iontophoresis delivery platform, the EyeGate® II Delivery System, was developed to safely deliver a wide range of therapeutics to both the anterior (front) and posterior (back) chambers of the eye. For more information please visit www.eyegatepharma.com.
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[DewDiligence]

Needle-Free Technology for the Treatment of AMD

[No endorsement of the company or device is implied.]



http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080619/aqth066.html

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Thursday June 19, 2:10 pm ET

SAN DIEGO, June 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Sydney company, Seagull Technology Pty Ltd, has developed a non-invasive drug delivery device that reduces the risks associated with the treatment of Australia's leading cause of blindness and severe vision loss -- Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a degenerative disease of the retina which affects one in seven people over the age of 50. The technology uses a special gel and ultrasound (sound waves) in a handheld device to send drugs through the outer layers of the eye and into the damaged retina at the back of the eye. It is painless, quick and can be done safely in the doctors' consulting rooms rather than in a hospital or surgery.

Because of a worldwide ageing population, AMD is one of the fastest growing forms of blindness and the potential market for the device is huge, according to company Executive Director, Dr Shanny Dyer.

Currently AMD treatment can require needle injections of drugs into the back of the eye which may cause patient fear, discomfort and carries a risk of further eye damage through complications associated with the injection rather than the drugs themselves.

The NSW Minister for Science and Medical Research Hon. Verity Firth, will launch the technology at the world's biggest biotechnology convention, BIO 2008, in San Diego.

Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a disease of the macula, the central part of the retina, and can result in loss of ability to read, drive, watch television or recognize faces.

AMD is the most common cause of vision loss in the developed world for those over 50 years of age. There are over 200,000 cases in the US and over 20,000 in Australia of people with the "wet" form of the disease, which currently is the only treatable form of AMD and requires the injection of drugs directly into the eye. The market is conservatively estimated at over $200 million annually in the US alone. Other retinal damage caused by Diabetes related eye disease can also benefit from the device and available treatments.
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