NexMed's NexACT technology enhances Taxol's bioavailability through oral administration

NexMed, Inc. (Nasdaq: NEXM), a specialty CRO and a developer of products based on the NexACT^® technology, today announced that pre-clinical results from its research and development group at Bio-Quant successfully demonstrated the ability of the NexACT technology to deliver an oral formulation of Taxol® (paclitaxel) and to enhance the drug’s bioavailability by approximately ten-fold through this oral administration. Taxol, a first line chemotherapy drug used to treat breast, lung and ovarian cancers, is currently administered through an intravenous infusion that can take up to 24 hours to complete.

Dr. Bassam Damaj, NexMed’s Chief Executive Officer stated, “The results from these proof of concept studies are exciting and support our belief that NexACT can be successfully used to enhance oral bioavailability of a broad range of drugs, which could include our proprietary drug candidates, generic drugs and proprietary drugs owned by others who are developing second-generation formulations to provide extended patent protection with increased convenience and bioavailability. Our ability to leverage our proprietary NexACT technology in this way is expected to provide exciting new development opportunities and will no longer restrict us to the topical delivery of dermal drugs. Additional studies are ongoing to extend the validation of the technology into other classes of oral drugs.”