Altea receives SBIR Phase I grant for noninvasive delivery of PTH

Altea Development Corp. (Atlanta) has received a Phase I grant of $99,042 from the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study Altea's MicroPor system for non-invasive delivery of parathyroid hormone (PTH), a peptide hormone that induces formation of new bone mass in patients with osteoporosis.

Altea's patented MicroPor technology creates microscopic pores in the outermost dead layer of skin cells, opening tiny pathways to the underlying viable tissues. Altea has demonstrated delivery of physiologically relevant amounts of peptides and proteins in pilot clinical studies with compounds including insulin and parathyroid hormone, with other macromolecules of greater than 40,000 daltons, and with small molecules such as lidocaine to achieve local skin anesthesia.

MicroPor uses heat to deliver drugs from the micropor package (above) into the skin (below).

This unique system enables needleless infusion of biotechnology products with delivery profiles that can be tailored as desired for different applications, e.g., a steady infusion of the drug, a bolus delivery, or a combination of basal plus on-demand bolus as required. Transdermal delivery of most macromolecular drugs is difficult or impossible.

Under the grant, Altea will evaluate the clinical delivery profile of PTH through MicroPors in response to parameters such as low-dose current. "MicroPor will have the capability for controlled dose profiling, which potentially will allow us to more closely mimic the body's natural pulsatile PTH secretion patterns," said Harry Delcher, Altea's chief medical officer and principal investigator for this grant project. "To date, this has not been possible with current delivery technologies."

This is the second Phase I grant Altea has received in the past month from the NIH. On September 19, the company announced that it has received a $99,910 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) to study MicroPor for non-invasive insulin delivery (see related story).

Altea hopes that MicroPor will be applicable to a wide variety of peptide hormones as well as other protein drugs, which today must be administered by injection. Altea is working with Elan Corp. (Dublin, Ireland) on several projects, including DNA vaccines, and on a recombinant protein with Novartis.

For more information, contact Deborah Eppstein, Chairman and CEO of Altea, at 801-303-0306.

Edited by Angelo DePalma
Managing Editor, Drug Discovery Online
adepalma@drugdiscoveryonline.com