DALLAS and NEW YORK, July 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (OTCBB: ACCP), a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary drug-delivery platforms to develop treatments in areas of oncology, cancer supportive care and diabetes, announced that its lead product for oral mucositis, MuGard, is being covered by TRICARE, the U.S. military health plan for active duty service members and retirees of the seven uniformed services, their family members, survivors and others who are registered in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS). With over nine million lives, TRICARE now provides coverage for MuGard under its various insurance plan options with standard pharmacy benefit copayment.
To have TRICARE add MuGard to its prescription drug coverage is very encouraging as it demonstrates the reimbursement plan and pharmacoeconomic MuGard benefit education program is resonating well with third party payer programs, said Anthony Mottola, Vice President, Managed Care and Market Access, Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He continued, Payer outreach is a primary component of our multi-faceted approach to increase MuGard reimbursement across the US and we look forward to keeping patients, doctors, caregivers and shareholders updated on our continued progress with payers, pharmacy benefit managers and patient assistant programs.
About TRICARE:
TRICARE is a family of health plans for Military Health System. TRICARE responds to the challenge of maintaining medical combat readiness while providing the best health services for all eligible beneficiaries. The TRICARE plans integrate and supplement the MHS capability in providing health benefits in peacetime for all eligible beneficiaries. TRICARE brings together the worldwide health resources of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and commissioned corps of the Public Health Service (often referred to as direct care), and supplements this capability with network and non-network civilian health professionals, hospitals, pharmacies, and suppliers (referred to as purchased care) to provide better access and high-quality service, while maintaining the capability to support military operations.
About MuGard:
MuGard is a novel; ready-to-use mucoadhesive oral wound rinse and coating for the management of oral mucositis, a debilitating side effect of many anticancer treatments. Up to 40% of all patients receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy develop moderate to severe mucositis, and almost all patients receiving radiotherapy for head and neck cancer and those undergoing stem cell transplantation develop mucositis. Updated clinical practice guidelines for the prevention and treatment of mucositis recommend the use of a preventive oral care regimen as part of routine supportive care along with a therapeutic oral care regimen if mucositis develops. The market for the treatment of oral mucositis is estimated to be in excess of $1 billion world-wide. For more information, please visit www.MuGard.com.
About Access:
Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes proprietary products for the treatment and supportive care of cancer patients. Access’ products include MuGard (www.MuGard.com), which has received FDA marketing clearance for the management of patients with mucositis, ProLindac, a second generation DACH Platinum in Phase 2 clinical testing of patients with ovarian cancer, and Thiarabine, a novel nucleoside analog that has demonstrated both pre-clinical and clinical activity in certain cancers; currently in a Phase 1/2a trial in hematological malignancies at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
The company also has other advanced drug delivery technologies including CobaCyte-mediated targeted delivery and CobOral-oral drug delivery, its proprietary nanopolymer delivery technology based on the natural vitamin B12 uptake mechanism. For additional information on Access Pharmaceuticals, please visit our website at www.accesspharma.com.
This press release contains certain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27a of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include those relating to: our cash burn rate, clinical trial plans and timelines and clinical results for ProLindac, MuGard, Thiarabine and Cobalamin and other product candidates, our ability to achieve clinical and commercial success and our ability to successfully develop marketed products. These statements are subject to numerous risks, including but not limited to Access need to obtain additional financing in order to continue the clinical trial and operations and to the risks detailed in Access Annual Reports on Form 10-K and other reports filed by Access with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact: Company | Contact: Investor Relations | |
Christine Berni | Donald C. Weinberger/Diana Bittner (media) | |
Director of Investor Relations | Wolfe Axelrod Weinberger Assoc. LLC | |
Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | (212) 370-4500 | |
(212) 786-6208 | ||
SOURCE Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
