BOTHELL, Wash., July 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc. announced today the issuance of two U.S. patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patents relate to the Company’s Parathyroid Hormone Nasal Spray for treatment of osteoporosis, No. 7,244,709, titled “Compositions and Methods for Enhanced Mucosal Delivery of Parathyroid Hormone,” and PYY Nasal Spray for treatment of obesity, No. 7,244,412, titled “Methods for Manipulating Upper Gastrointestinal Transit, Blood Flow, and Satiety, and for Treating Visceral Hyperalgesia.”
The patent for PTH Nasal Spray is directed to aqueous formulations of parathyroid hormone and excipients with a specified droplet size that prevents pulmonary exposure to the formulation, an important safety aspect of nasal spray formulation design.
The patent for PYY Nasal Spray broadly covers methods for treating obesity using PYY. The first claim of the patent states “A method for treating obesity in a mammalian subject comprising administering peptide YY to said mammal.” Nastech acquired exclusive worldwide rights to this patent and other issued patents and pending applications relating to PYY from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA in May, 2004.
“The issuance of the first in a family of Parathyroid Hormone, PTH1-34, Nasal Spray patents as well as the issuance of an additional broad patent in the PYY Nasal Spray family of patents provide validation of our strategy and process for creating novel drug development and delivery technologies to benefit both patients and our shareholders,” stated Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman, President and CEO of Nastech. “These are important achievements that help to protect the significant investment Nastech has made in the development of its formulations for PTH1-34 Nasal Spray, a non- injectable anabolic agent for the treatment of osteoporosis, and PYY Nasal Spray, a novel treatment for obesity.”
About Parathyroid Hormone (PTH1-34)
PTH1-34 is a fragment of the naturally occurring human parathyroid hormone that is an important regulator of calcium and phosphorus metabolism. When given by daily injection, PTH1-34 has been shown to increase bone mineral density and significantly reduce both vertebral and non-vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women. Daily injections of PTH1-34 are approved for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis and had $594 million in sales during 2006. In February 2006, Nastech and Procter & Gamble entered into a development and commercialization collaboration for PTH1-34 as an investigational nasal spray.
About PYY
Peptide YY is a naturally occurring hormone that is believed to function as a physiologic inhibitor of food intake. PYY is released into the blood stream from specialized endocrine cells (L-cells) in the gut after a meal and is believed to trigger the feeling of satiety, or fullness. Because PYY is a peptide, initial studies focused on PYY delivery by injection. Utilizing its proprietary drug delivery technology, Nastech developed the nasal spray formulation of PYY as a unique, non-invasive treatment option for obesity.
About Nastech
Nastech is a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative products based on proprietary molecular biology-based drug delivery technologies. Nastech and our collaboration partners are developing products for multiple therapeutic areas including osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, autism, respiratory diseases and inflammatory conditions. Additional information about Nastech is available at http://www.nastech.com.
Nastech Forward Looking Statements
Statements made in this press release may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Federal Securities laws that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and involve factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (i) the ability of Nastech to obtain additional funding; (ii) the ability of Nastech to attract and/or maintain manufacturing, research, development and commercialization partners; (iii) Nastech’s and/or a partner’s ability to successfully complete product research and development, including preclinical and clinical studies and commercialization; (iv) Nastech’s and/or a partner’s ability to obtain required governmental approvals; and (v) Nastech’s and/or a partner’s ability to develop and commercialize products that can compete favorably with those of competitors. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements are contained in Nastech’s most recent periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nastech assumes no obligation to update and supplement forward-looking statements because of subsequent events.
Contacts: Nastech Ed Bell Director, Investor Relations (425) 908-3639 ir@nastech.com Russo Partners, LLC Matthew Haines (Investors/Media) (212) 845-4235
Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc.
CONTACT: Ed Bell, Director, Investor Relations, of Nastech,+1-425-908-3639, ir@nastech.com; or Investors/Media, Matthew Haines ofRusso Partners, LLC, +1-212-845-4235
Web site: http://www.nastech.com/
