Egalet Corporation, a fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical company focused on eveloping, manufacturing and marketing innovative treatments for pain and other conditions, has announced the issuance of new US and international patents for Egalet's proprietary Guardian Technology.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued patent number 9,549,899 covering Arymo ER (morphine sulfate) extended-release tablets for oral use only –CII developed using Egalet's proprietary Guardian Technology. It is the second US patent covering Arymo ER. The patent offers protection through 2033 and is listed in the Orange Book.

European patent number 2393487 has been issued to Egalet and offers protection of products developed using Guardian Technology. Also issued is Australian patent number 2015200243. It is the third in a patent family. Both the European and Australian patents offer protection through 2030.

Canadian patent number 2,751,667 also was issued and covers Guardian Technology's immediate-release system designed to slow the release of the active pharmaceutical ingredient in the presence of alcohol. The patent offers protection through 2030.

"The newly issued patents further strengthen our ability to grow our business through the development of immediate- and extended-release products using our Guardian Technology," said Mark Strobeck, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief operating officer at Egalet.

Egalet has been granted a total of 18 US patents and 95 patents outside of the US that cover Guardian Technology and its product candidates.

Egalet's Guardian Technology has many applications and has been used to develop abuse-deterrent forms of commonly abused prescription medications. Egalet's proprietary Guardian Technology is a polymer matrix tablet technology that utilizes a novel application of the well characterized manufacturing process of injection molding, which results in tablets that are hard and difficult to manipulate for misuse and abuse. This approach offers the ability to design tablets with controlled-release profiles as well as physical and chemical properties that have been demonstrated to resist both common and rigorous methods of manipulation. Tablets manufactured with Guardian Technology have been shown to have increased resistance to physical methods of manipulation, such as cutting, crushing, grinding or breaking, using a variety of mechanical and electrical tools. They are also resistant to chemical manipulation and attempts at extraction and turn into a viscous hydrogel on contact with liquid, making syringeability very difficult.

Egalet, a fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical company, is focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing innovative treatments for pain and other conditions. Egalet has three approved products: Arymo ER (morphine sulfate) extended-release tablets for oral use only –CII, developed using Egalet's proprietary Guardian Technology, Oxaydo (oxycodone HCI, USP) tablets for oral use only –CII and Sprix (ketorolac tromethamine) nasal spray.