Aegis Therapeutics Celebrates 10th Anniversary

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 28, 2013) - Aegis Therapeutics LLC is proud to announce it is celebrating its 10-year anniversary on October 31, 2013.

Aegis was founded by a renowned group of successful biotech entrepreneurs from the San Diego area to commercialize proprietary technologies that solve some of the most pressing drug delivery problems for small molecule drugs and biotherapeutics. These patented technologies are marketed under the Intravail® and ProTek® brands.

Aegis' Intravail® noninvasive delivery technology allows current injected drugs to be administered noninvasively either by a metered nasal spray or orally, dramatically increasing drug absorption and speeding onset of action, which is particularly important for treatment of certain clinical conditions such as pain, nausea, emesis, convulsive and other CNS disorders, spasticity, and the like where rapid relief is critical to patient comfort and recovery.

Aegis' ProTek® technology stabilizes biotherapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies, preventing protein aggregation and oxidative damage caused by the widely used current stabilizers called polysorbates, which lead to unwanted immunogenicity that limits or obviates the usefulness of this very important class of drugs. 

Aegis' licensees include some of the world's premier pharmaceutical and biotech companies (five of the top 10 largest pharmaceutical companies and two of the top 10 largest generics companies, along with many public and private biotech companies) including Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.; Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Ltd; Biodel, Inc.; and Neurelis, Inc.

"The last 10 years have been filled with challenges, achievements, growth and new product introductions," said Edward T. Maggio, Ph.D., Aegis co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "Our success has been the direct result of our partner's efforts and their belief in Aegis' technologies as they successfully incorporate these technologies in their product development activities to improve the health and quality of life for patients."

We are pleased with our growth and accomplishments to date. Aegis was founded in 2003 obtaining an exclusive worldwide license from the University of Alabama Birmingham Research Foundation to U.S. Patent 5,661,130 for non-invasive delivery of peptides and proteins currently marketed under the Intravail® brand. Since then Aegis has significantly expanded its patent portfolio providing protection for partner programs with 13 additional issued U.S. and foreign patents expiring between 2026 and December 2029 and well over 50 additional U.S. and foreign patent applications pending covering drug formulations and methods of treatment for a broad range of clinical conditions. Since our initial funding 2004 of a little over $1 million, Aegis has been profitable, making distributions back to its investors.

Examples of our partners successful innovative applications include a nasal sumatriptan spray that achieves therapeutic levels in 2 to 3 minutes compared to 60 to 120 minutes for the existing nasal and oral formulations (roughly 20 times faster) to provide relief from migraine headaches, and a fast acting diazepam nasal spray developed initially by San Diego based Neurelis, and now in conjunction with Biotie Therapies, a leading drug development company focused primarily on products for neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. The diazepam nasal spray is being developed to provide immediate treatment for epilepsy patients who experience unexpected seizures, circumventing the delayed treatment and high cost of emergency room trips which comprise the current standard of care in the US.

About Aegis Therapeutics

Aegis Therapeutics LLC is a drug delivery technology company commercializing its patented drug delivery and drug formulation technologies through product-specific licenses. Aegis' Intravail® drug delivery technology enables the non-invasive delivery of a broad range of protein, peptide and non-peptide drugs that can currently only be administered by injection, via the oral, buccal, and intranasal administration routes, and with high bioavailability. Aegis' ProTek® excipients stabilize, prevent aggregation, and reduce unwanted immunogenicity of protein and peptide therapeutics while avoiding the oxidative damage caused by polysorbate surfactants.

For more information about Aegis, please visit:  http://www.aegisthera.com.