Mapi Pharma, developer of complex bulk Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), has been granted a US patent for a long acting depot formulation of glatiramer acetate, which is under the development as a once-a-month treatment for Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
The glatiramer acetate depot formulation is to be injected once-a-month under the skin or into a muscle for a prolonged release of the therapeutic agent.
Mapi Pharma president and CEO Ehud Marom said that the new patent strengthens the company's position that supports its business plan and advances the company one step closer to bringing MS patients an improved drug to be administered once-a-month.
MS is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system whose symptoms include numbness in the limbs, paralysis and loss of vision that are unpredictable and differ from one person to another.
The global market for MS pharmaceuticals is estimated to be approximately $10bn, according to Mapi Pharma.
