D-Pharm Ltd. Receives Fast Track Designation from FDA for DP-B99 Stroke Treatment

The FDA Fast Track development program is a designation that accelerates the approval in the U.S. of investigational new drugs undergoing clinical trials. It is specifically designed to facilitate the development, and expedite the review of drugs to treat serious diseases and fill an unmet medical need. The Fast Track will allow D-Pharm to submit parts of its request for a new drug approval (NDA) as these parts become available, without having to wait and submit all parts of the application together, as usually required by the FDA. Alex Kozak, D-Pharm’s CEO commented, “This Fast Track designation to expedite the progress of DP-b99 to market is an important vote of confidence in D-Pharm and we look forward to the frequent and fruitful interactions with the agency encouraged by this designation.”

The Membrane Activated Chelator Stroke Intervention (MACSI) Phase III trial is a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study. It is designed to compare the effect on ischemic stroke outcome between a placebo group and a group of patients treated with 1 mg/kg/day of DP-b99 for 4 consecutive days. The MACSI study is enrolling 770 patients, with recruitment ongoing at over 100 clinical sites in North America, Europe, South America, South Africa and Israel. In April 2010 the protocol for the trial was agreed with the U.S. FDA under the Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) procedure.

About DP-b99

DP-b99 is a unique broad-spectrum neuroprotective drug that addresses an array of brain damaging processes occurring in stroke patients. Both preclinical and clinical Phase I and II studies indicate a favorable efficacy and safety profile for DP-b99. In the Phase IIb trial in 150 ischemic stroke patients, DP- b99 increased by two-fold the percentage of patients that recovered from ischemic stroke. DP-b99 may be administered within a nine hour therapeutic window.

About Stroke

Every year around 1.5 million people in the U.S., Western Europe and Japan suffer an acute stroke. Stroke is a leading cause of death in the western world and around 50% of stroke survivors suffer from some form of severe disability. According to the American Heart Association (AHA) the annual economic burden of stroke in the U.S. was around $70B in 2009. Currently, between 2-5% of stroke patients receive tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), the only drug currently approved for treatment of acute stroke in the U.S.

About D-Pharm

D-Pharm (www.dpharm.com) is a clinical stage, biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of lipid-like therapeutics, and has generated a rich pipeline of patent protected proprietary products. D- Pharm’s pipeline includes advanced clinical stage products, DP-b99 for treatment of ischemic stroke patients and DP-VPA, a novel drug for treatment of epilepsy, bipolar disorder and prophylaxis of migraine. DP-VPA, a prodrug of valproic acid, is in Phase II clinical development. DP-460 is in preclinical development intended as an oral, disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer's disease. Other mimics of bioactive lipids, LipidoMimetix, are at an earlier developmental stage for cancer.  

D-Pharm was established in 1993 at the initiative of Dr. Alex Kozak, President and CEO. In August 2009 the Company completed the first offering of its shares on the Tel Aviv stock exchange. The largest shareholder in the company is Clal Biotechnology Industries (46%).

For further information please contact:

Tami Horovitz

Tel: +972-8-9385100

Fax: +972-8-9300795

Email: thorovitz@dpharm.com

Disclaimer

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking information, as defined in the Securities Law, based on information available to D-Pharm at the time of this press release. The estimations could, some or all, be unrealized, or could be realized in significantly different ways than expected.