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Biotech / Medical : INHL - Inhale Therapeutics - Pulmonary Insulin! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nigel bates who wrote (205)	11/21/2002 3:08:51 PM
From: tuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 225

>>SAN CARLOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 21, 2002--Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:INHL - News) reported today that Pharmacia's SOMAVERT®, which uses Inhale's PEGylation technology, has been approved for marketing in Europe for the treatment of certain patients with acromegaly. SOMAVERT is the fifth product using Inhale's technology that has been approved for marketing in Europe. Pharmacia Corporation (NYSE:PHA - News) announced November 19 that the European Commission approved SOMAVERT (pegvisomant powder and solvent for solution for injection) for the treatment of patients with acromegaly who have had an inadequate response to surgery and/or radiation therapy and in whom an appropriate medical treatment with somatostatin analogues did not normalize IGF-I concentrations or was not tolerated. IGF-I is a measure of the activity of acromegaly, and achieving a normal IGF-I level is a fundamental goal of acromegaly treatment. SOMAVERT is the first in a new class of medicines called growth hormone receptor antagonists. "We believe that Pharmacia's SOMAVERT advances therapy for the treatment of acromegaly to a new level," said Ajit Gill, president and CEO, Inhale. "We continue to see the growth of PEGylation as an industry standard method for enabling improved performance of drug molecules." SOMAVERT uses Inhale's PEGylation technology, which involves reactive polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecules and methods to modify them to drugs. PEGs can be attached to most major drug classes, including proteins, peptides, antibody fragments, small molecules, and other drugs. Molecule engineering via PEGylation has the potential to improve the safety and efficacy of therapeutic agents by increasing drug circulation time in the bloodstream, increasing bioavailability, decreasing immunogenicity, decreasing dosing frequency, and improving drug solubility and stability. Acromegaly is a serious, life-shortening disease triggered by over-secretion of growth hormone, most often caused by a pituitary tumor. This excess of growth hormone leads to over-production of a second hormone, IGF-I, (insulin-like growth factor-I), which causes the disabling symptoms and the long-term health problems associated with the disorder. Patients with acromegaly often suffer from headaches, excessive sweating, soft-tissue swelling, joint disorders, and, perhaps most striking, a progressive coarsening of facial features and enlargement of the hands, feet and jaw. The number of people with acromegaly is estimated at 40,000 in Europe, the US and Japan, but experts believe the prevalence may be much higher as diagnosis is often delayed for up to 15 years after symptoms begin. Traditional treatments for acromegaly include surgery to remove the pituitary tumor, radiation therapy and pharmaceutical treatments. << snip Cheers, Tuck