SAN FRANCISCO & GALWAY, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dance Pharma and Aerogen Ltd. will develop Dance’s inhaled insulin product in a novel aerosol device based on Aerogen’s proprietary OnQ™ Aerosol Generator technology, it was announced today by both companies. Aerogen has granted Dance an exclusive worldwide license to their aerosol technology for insulin delivery. Other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Diabetes is a global epidemic with as many as 280 million sufferers. The number of patients worldwide is expected to grow more than 50 percent over the next 20 years. According to studies done by the National Institutes of Health and others, better glucose control through treatment with insulin can extend life expectancy and significantly reduce the cost to the healthcare system of managing diabetes and its complications. Today, in many regions more than a third of healthcare costs can be traced to diabetes.
“Dance’s team of inhaled insulin experts considered all potential aerosol technologies worldwide and chose Aerogen’s technology because we’re convinced it’s the best, most patient-friendly technology for our first inhaled insulin product. Aerogen has done an outstanding job optimizing technology performance and achieving low cost production,” said John S. Patton, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Dance Pharma. “Most diabetics avoid taking insulin for years because the treatment requires multiple daily injections. The consequences for the patient and the healthcare system due to that kind of delay are dramatic. Our mission at Dance is to provide inhaled insulin in small, discreet, pain-less, and low cost form to patients throughout the world.”
Aerogen’s Chief Executive Officer John Power said, “We feel privileged to be involved in this potentially life changing venture. Building upon the wealth of knowledge and experience of prior ventures in the field, I firmly believe the time is now right when the advancements made in Aerogen’s technological capability can combine with Dance’s unrivaled clinical and specialist product expertise and finally enable the delivery of an aerosol solution that diabetes sufferers globally have so long waited for.”
About Dance Pharma
Dance is a San Francisco based, global company focused exclusively on creating a line of small, patient friendly, pain-less, low cost insulin inhalers for the world diabetes market. In addition to providing inhaled insulin to those who have become insulin dependent, the company also intends to enable introduction of insulin much earlier in the disease process to significantly reduce healthcare costs and improve the lives of millions of diabetics. There is a global epidemic of diabetes. In 2010 it is estimated that >280 million people have diabetes worldwide and the number is expected to grow to 439 million by 2030. For the majority their disease is out of control and they will die prematurely. Numerous studies have shown that better glucose control can extend life expectancy and markedly reduce the huge costs of managing diabetes and its complications. Roughly one third of healthcare costs in many regions can be traced to diabetes. One of the many tragedies of diabetes is that even though insulin is the gold standard for treatment and it works well, because it has to be injected, it is the last drug to be taken by Type 2 diabetics who make up about 90% of all diabetics. Delaying insulin treatment or refusing to take multiple daily injections eventually results in miserable health consequences and enormous costs. Inhaled insulin has been shown in ~ 20 studies to be overwhelmingly preferred by diabetics over injections. The company plans to leverage the extensive experience of their team, best in class technology, strong IP, the large 20 year safety and efficacy database on inhaled insulin, and market savvy, to produce low risk, fast to market products. For more information, visit www.dancepharma.com.
About Aerogen Ltd.
Aerogen is a specialty drug delivery company that has pioneered the advancement of aerosol drug delivery, particularly for patients with respiratory disorders in the critical care setting. The company is recognized as the global leader in high performance nebulization for mechanically ventilated patients and its products are today used in acute care facilities in 65 countries throughout the world, distributed by a network of partners which include GE-Healthcare, Covidien, Maquet, Philips and Tri-Anim amongst others. The company also partners with bio-pharma to develop and deliver specialty aerosol drug solutions utilizing its proprietary OnQ™ Aerosol Generator technology platform. For more information visit www.aerogen.com.
Contact:
Dance, San Francisco Samantha Miller, 650-892-8377 or Aerogen, Galway Colin Telfer, +353 91 540 400
