Aegis Therapeutics LLC, a US-based drug delivery technology company, has obtained New Zealand patent providing coverage through December 2029 for fast acting formulations of triptans.
The New Zealand patent is the third patent awarded to Aegis for Intravail formulations of triptans with the company obtaining two US patents earlier in September 2012 and in May 2013.
According to the company, several other additional international patent applications are in process worldwide for triptans.
Triptans, a widely used class of drugs that include sumatriptan, zolmitriptan, naratriptan, rizatriptan, eletriptan, almotriptan and frovatriptan, are highly effective in treating migraine headaches.
The efficacy of Intravail formulation of sumatriptan over the widely used triptan formulations like sumatriptan nasal spray or tablet formulations was proved in human clinical trials.
In the clinical studies, the Intravail formulation of sumatriptan achieved therapeutic drug levels 20 to 30 times faster than the currently marketed non-injectable sumatriptan products.
While sumatriptan nasal spray or tablet formulations reached maximum blood levels of drug in about 60 to 120 minutes, the Intravail formulation of sumatriptan achieved the same at approximately 2 to 3 minutes providing quicker relief to patients.
Advantages of Intravail formulation technology like rapid attainment of therapeutic drug levels and enhancement in noninvasive bioavailability by the oral, nasal, buccal, and sublingual routes make it a pertinent technology to be used across wide therapy areas like pain, nausea, emesis, convulsive disorders, spasticity and so on.
