Mystic Pharmaceuticals granted U.S. patent covering VRx2 drug delivery platform technology

Mystic Pharmaceuticals today announced it has been granted U.S. Patent 7,669,597, a key technology of its VRx2™ drug delivery platform. The VRx2™ Delivery Platform provides preservative free, precision dose delivery for ophthalmic and intranasal drugs and biologics. The issued patent covers Mystic's proprietary unit dose blister technology for packaging of drugs or biologics that have been freeze dried to powder form to improve stability, reduce the need for cold chain management and enable auto-reconstitution to a liquid form at the time of administration.

“Mystic's technology will simplify and accelerate the packaging, deployment and delivery of drugs and biologics to protect the public safety in a crisis situation”

Dr. C.J. Peters, Director for Biodefense in the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Medical Branch, stated, "One of the primary applications for this technology will be to develop needle-free vaccines for pandemic and bioterror threats that are safer, easier and less costly to produce and deploy." A wide range of drugs, proteins, peptides and biologics require an uninterrupted cold chain of refrigeration or freezing during storage, transport and deployment to maintain stability and potency. Cold chain management adds cost and complicates the task of deploying drugs or vaccines to large populations. Freeze drying reduces or eliminates the need for cold chain management by converting the drug or vaccine from a liquid form to a stable powder using processes such as spray drying or lyophilization. Freeze dried vaccines must be reconstituted prior to use, a process that requires trained medical personnel and is difficult to do under adverse field conditions often encountered in a crisis situation. Mystic's patented unit dose blister technology enables freeze dried drugs or biologics to be pre-packaged in novel intranasal or ophthalmic delivery systems and automatically reconstituted and self-administered by the consumer with the push of a button.

"Mystic's technology will simplify and accelerate the packaging, deployment and delivery of drugs and biologics to protect the public safety in a crisis situation," said Timothy Sullivan, Mystic's President and CEO.