Aradigm Corporation (OTCBB:ARDM) (the “Company”) announced today that it
received the $4 million milestone payment from Zogenix, Inc. (“Zogenix”)
based upon the first commercial sale in the U.S. of SUMAVEL* DosePro*
(sumatriptan injection) needle-free delivery system. The Company will
receive quarterly royalty payments on all SUMAVEL DosePro sales. In
2006, the Company sold all assets related to the Intraject* needle-free
injector technology (now rebranded as DosePro) to Zogenix in exchange
for milestone and royalty payments.
“The receipt of this milestone reflects our strategy to raise
non-dilutive capital by monetizing non-strategic assets”
“The receipt of this milestone reflects our strategy to raise
non-dilutive capital by monetizing non-strategic assets,” said Dr. Igor
Gonda, the Company’s CEO and President. “We are pleased with the first
commercial sale of this product utilizing technology developed at
Aradigm.”
In July 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved SUMAVEL
DosePro for the acute treatment of migraine, with or without aura, and
the acute treatment of cluster headaches. SUMAVEL DosePro delivers
subcutaneous (under the skin) sumatriptan, a treatment that provides
migraine relief, in a first-of-its-kind needle-free delivery system.
Migraine is a chronic and common neurovascular disorder characterized by
episodic attacks. According to a 2004 report from the National Headache
Foundation, approximately 30 million people in the U.S. suffer from
migraines. Both men and women experience migraine, although women are
three times more likely to suffer from it. Cluster headaches are
characterized by groups or clusters of debilitating headaches lasting
weeks or months, then disappearing for months or years. This type of
headache affects an estimated one million sufferers in the U.S., and
approximately 90 percent of these sufferers are male. Due to the severe
nature of cluster headache, patients are commonly treated with
prescription medication.