Company press release:
Tuesday September 22, 8:06 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
TheraTech Receives Federal Grant
To Study Innovative Rheumatoid
Arthritis Therapy
SALT LAKE CITY--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 22, 1998--TheraTech Inc. (Nasdaq:THRT - news) Tuesday announced receipt of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant that will fund initial studies of an innovative therapy for rheumatoid arthritis.
The grant, awarded under the NIH Small Business Innovation Research Program, will support a study utilizing TheraTech's peptide-based cell-targeted system to deliver cytotoxic and/or immunosuppressant drugs directly to immune cells for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Ramesh Prakash, Ph.D., TheraTech's director of biotechnology research and development, will be the principal investigator on the study. According to Dr. Prakash, the study is designed to demonstrate that TheraTech's proprietary technology can deliver drugs directly to immune cells activated in rheumatoid arthritis.
''This approach may mitigate the immune response and resultant tissue destruction associated with rheumatoid arthritis, while avoiding non-specific toxicities that may occur with conventional
systemic dosing,'' Dr. Prakash stated.
Dinesh C. Patel, Ph.D., TheraTech's chairman, president and chief executive officer, noted that this is one of several cell-targeted drug delivery studies that the company has underway.
''TheraTech is actively developing a number of cell-targeted therapeutic treatments for cancer, auto-immune, and other immune system-related diseases,'' he said.
TheraTech Inc. is a leading drug delivery company that develops, manufactures, and markets innovative products based on its patented and proprietary delivery products and systems. These include a variety of transdermal patches, oral transmucosal systems for delivery of peptides and other drugs requiring rapid onset (i.e. pain medications), oral controlled-release systems, topical
preparations, and cell-targeted drug delivery technologies.
The company has four products on the market, over 20 products in its development pipeline and holds 50 issued, allowed, and/or pending U.S. patents, with international counterparts granted and/or filed.
TheraTech has research, development and/or marketing agreements with leading multi-national as well as regional pharmaceutical companies, including: Eli Lilly, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, SmithKline Beecham, Wyeth-Ayerst, Astra, CEPA, Lavipharm S.A., Schwarz Pharma AG,
Meiji, Samyang and Sankyo.
For additional information, visit TheraTech Inc.'s Web Site at www.thrt.com, or e-mail information requests to: Investor@thrt.com
Statements contained in this release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements
of TheraTech's beliefs, expectations, hopes or intentions regarding the future.
All forward-looking statements included in this release are made as of the date hereof and are based on information available to TheraTech as of such date. TheraTech assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
It is important to note that actual outcomes and TheraTech's actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Readers and editors should refer to the risks and
other disclosures outlined in TheraTech's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. |
