APRICUS BIOSCIENCES ANNOUNCES NEW NEXACT® TRANSBUCCAL DELIVERY DATA PUBLISHED IN THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICS
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SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Apricus Biosciences, Inc. ("Apricus Bio") (NASDAQ: APRI), announced today that the International Journal of Pharmaceutics, a peer reviewed journal, has published new data on the NexACT® technology in their November 2010 issue, based on research conducted by, and at, the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey in Piscataway, NJ. The article, entitled, "Enhanced in vitro Transbuccal drug delivery of Ondansetron HCl," highlights NexACT® enhancers' ability to significantly improve permeation of ondansetron, a drug used to treat nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy and post surgery, through porcine buccal tissue.
The data shows that DDAIP.HCl, one of the NexACT® technology's proprietary enhancers, provided the best improvements when compared to other enhancers (Azone, Iminosulfurane) and other technologies (iontophoresis). The highest concentration of NexACT® enhancer tested (5%) did not affect the viability of the buccal cells, suggesting a safe range for clinical use.
Dr. Bassam Damaj, President and Chief Executive Officer of Apricus Bio, noted, "The buccal route of delivery represents an additional, new application of NexACT® and potentially enables us to deliver drugs that cannot be delivered via the oral, intravenous or transdermal route."
The abstract is available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21056647.
About the NexACT® Multi-Route drug delivery Technology
NexACT® utilizes biodegradable excipients, that when incorporated into drug formulations, has demonstrated the ability to help overcome the body's natural barrier properties and thereby enable rapid penetration of higher concentrations of active drug directly through the skin and major biological membranes, resulting in more effective delivery of therapies. Varying the concentration of the enhancer allows for local or systemic delivery of active drug, as desired. NexACT® has shown in studies to efficiently enable the delivery of drugs across different classes and over a wide range of indications via transdermal, oral, subcutaneous, rectal and buccal routes of administration.
About Apricus Biosciences
Backed by NexMed, USA and Bio-Quant, Inc., its revenue generating CRO business, Apricus Bio has leveraged the flexibility of its proven NexACT® drug delivery technology to enable multi-route administration of new and improved compounds across numerous therapeutic classes. Future growth is expected to be driven primarily through out-licensing of this technology for the development and commercialization of such compounds to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, worldwide. Concurrently, the Company is seeking to monetize its existing product pipeline, including its approved drug erectile dysfunction treatment, Vitaros® , as well as compounds in development from pre-clinical through Phase 3, currently focused on dermatology, sexual dysfunction and cancer. For further information on Apricus Bio and its subsidiaries, visit http://www.apricusbio.com.
Contacts:
Apricus Biosciences, Inc.
Edward Cox, V.P.
Investor Relations & Corporate Development Apricus Bio, Inc.
(858) 848-4249
[email protected]
Apricus Bio Investor Relations
Paula Schwartz
Apricus Bio, Inc. Rx Communications Group, LLC
(917) 322-2216
[email protected]