MedPharm Receives Grant for Insomnia Nasal Spray; Leading Specialist Topical Company Developing Fast-Acting Nasal Sedative.

CHICAGO -- UK-based topical pharmaceutical development specialist MedPharm Ltd today announced at BIO 2006 in Chicago that it's been awarded a BBSRC* grant to further advance development of a benzodiazepine-based nasal spray for insomnia. The objective is to reduce onset of action to less than 30 minutes through nasal delivery of a reformulated benzodiazepine compared with the 1-2 hours taken by existing tablet and softgel formulations. This grant will be part of a collaboration with OptiNose, a company that is developing a nasal device based on its patented bi-directional delivery technology. The product, which will combine MedPharm's novel formulation with OptiNose's device, will enable quick onset of action by direct delivery of the improved formulation to the target sites in nasal cavity. This route of administration will ensure reproducibility and in turn is expected to lead to improved user compliance. Insomnia affects millions of people across the globe, with a worldwide market estimated to be worth $2.2 billion and growing at 10% per annum.

MedPharm CSO, Dr Marc Brown, sees a major opportunity for the new spray formulation: "With current market leader Zolpidem due to come off patent in 2007, there will be an influx of generics, combined with product line extensions. We aim to take advantage with our new fast-acting product. The faster onset of action will help eliminate any risk of the patient double-dosing because they perceive the dose is not working or they forget that they have already taken a dose. This in turn will help to break the cycle between anxiety and worries over lack of sleep that may exacerbate sleep disturbance." Dr Andrew Muddle, MedPharm's CEO added: "Once data are available for insomnia, it is likely that additional indications where there is also a need and a sizeable market opportunity for rapid onset of action - e.g. panic attacks, jetlag - will also be considered. This new grant from the BBSRC will fund some of the development activities to qualify our formulations."

*BBSRC stands for the British Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, one of the main funding bodies in the UK for research.