USPTO issues Patent Notice of Allowance for CIP-TRAMADOL ER drug

Cipher Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX: DND) today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Patent Notice of Allowance for CIP-TRAMADOL ER, the Company's extended-release tramadol product for the treatment of moderate to moderately severe chronic pain in adults. The required issue and publication fees will now be paid so that the patent can be issued, following which the Company will pursue an FDA Orange Book listing associated with its previously approved CIP-TRAMADOL ER New Drug Application.

"Patent protection is an important step on the path to commercialization of our extended-release tramadol product in the U.S. market, which we are targeting in the first half of 2011," said Larry Andrews, President and CEO of Cipher. "We believe our product's unique capsule formulation comprising an immediate-release tablet and sustained-release beads, combined with consistent absorption whether taken with or without meals, will make it an attractive alternative for clinicians and chronic pain sufferers. We are working to complete a U.S. marketing partnership in the near term."