Antares Pharma, Inc announced that the company received a milestone payment of $450,000 from BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc related to an agreement with Azur Pharma for the marketing of Elestrin (estradiol gel) to treat moderate to severe hot flashes in menopausal women in the United States. BioSante received $3.325 million on signing with Azur, of which approximately $1.5 million was purchased inventory. Antares is entitled to 25 per cent of any upfront and milestone payments as well as a percentage of product royalties. Azur has agreed to market Elestrin using its women's health and urology sales force of approximately 50 sales people that target estrogen prescribing physicians in the US comprised mostly of gynaecologists.
Elestrin is a low-dose transdermal estradiol therapy delivered in our proprietary Advanced Transdermal Delivery (ATDTM) gel system, which is licensed to BioSante. Additionally, Antares is currently conducting a phase-III study of Anturol, an oxybutynin gel for over-active bladder which incorporates the same ATD gel system and was approved in Elestrin by the FDA.
In other news, Antares announced that a new patent has been issued covering Elestrin. US Patent 7,470,433 issued on December 30, 2008, and is expected to expire on June 25, 2022. The named inventors of this patent are both Antares Pharma and BioSante. This new patent is the second issued patent that covers Elestrin potentially providing further protection against generic competition.
"We are pleased that Elestrin will be commercialized by a focused and committed organization like Azur," said Paul K Wotton, president and CEO of Antares Pharma. "Our ATD system is an effective technology used to deliver drugs in a reproducible and patient friendly manner which we believe will provide Azur with a competitive advantage over existing estradiol therapies and may result in additional milestone and royalty revenues in the future."
Antares Pharma is a product development company committed to improving pharmaceuticals through its patented drug delivery systems.