WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass., July 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MacroChem Corporation (OTCBB: MACM - News) today announced that it has signed an exclusive option to acquire exclusive worldwide license rights for drug uses of pexiganan, a novel, small peptide anti-infective for topical treatment of patients with mild diabetic foot infection (DFI), from Genaera Corporation (Genaera).
"We believe this is a unique opportunity for MacroChem to broaden its product portfolio with a product that has already completed two Phase 3 clinical trials. It also fits our strategic focus and complements our lead product candidate, EcoNail(TM) for treatment of nail fungus currently in a fully enrolled Phase 2 trial and progressing on track with an interim assessment of clinical data later this year after all patients have been treated for twenty four weeks," said Robert J. DeLuccia, President and CEO of MacroChem.
Clinical trials with pexiganan previously conducted by Genaera include two Phase 3 trials submitted in a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1998. At that time, outstanding issues with CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls) and an FDA request for one additional controlled trial precluded approval.
Mr. DeLuccia further noted, "We would be pleased to have pexiganan in our hands since we believe that, if approved, it would be welcomed by physicians and patients for the treatment of diabetic foot infection. In recent years, there have been many advances in the manufacturing of peptides, a better understanding of the treatment of diabetic foot infection, improvements in clinical trial design and execution, and more clarity concerning regulatory requirements for topical anti-infectives with the potential market being even more attractive than before."
He added, "There continues to be a very large and growing incidence of diabetes and, as a result, a growing number of diabetic foot infections in the
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Contact: Bill Douglass
bdouglass@investorrelationsgroup.com
212-825-3210
MacroChem
10-Jul-2007