Press Release March 27, 2009
Diamyd Medical licenses novel Pain Product
Diamyd Medical reports today that it has acquired an exclusive license for
Endomorphin technology that may be used for the treatment of pain, including
neuropathic pain, that occurs in diabetes.
“In addition to this newly acquired Endomorphin technology, and our exclusive
licenses for GAD, we also have an ongoing clinical development program with
Enkephalin”, says Elisabeth Lindner, President and CEO of Diamyd Medical. With
Enkephalin, GAD and Endomorphin, we have completed our pain portfolio now having
products targeting all three major pain receptors. This gives us a strong
position in the development of products for multiple pain types, including
neuropathic pain that alone has a market potential estimated to more than 3.5
billion dollars”.
The Endomorphin technology embodies a direct production and release of
Endomorfin peptides with morphine-like activity directly into the spinal cord
blocking further pain signal generation. Morphine has been used for centuries to
provide pain relief and continues to be an essential tool in modern clinical
pain management. However, in addition to pain relief, Morphine produces a host
of undesirable side effects.
“The newly licensed technology allows focal delivery of Endomorphin directly to
the site of pain using our NTDDS (Nerve Targeting Drug Delivery system)
platform. The localized Endomorphin delivery is not expected to have side
effects like systemic Morphine”, states Darren Wolfe, President of Diamyd Inc,
Pittsburgh, USA.
Diamyd Inc, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, is a fully owned subsidiary of Diamyd Medical
and is a leader in the field of drug delivery to the nervous system.
The Endomorphin technology has been the subject to two peer-reviewed
publications including; “Engineering an Endomorphin-2 gene for use in
neuropathic pain therapy” in Pain, 2007, 133:29-38 and “Effects of
transgene-mediated Endomorphin-2 in inflammatory pain” in Eur J Pain, 2008 Epub.
For more information, please contact:
Elisabeth Lindner, President and CEO Diamyd Medical AB (publ.)
Phone: +46-8-661 0026
Darren Wolfe, President Diamyd Inc
Phone +1 412-770-1310
For pictures and press material, please contact:
Alexandra Fleetwood, Director Communications, Diamyd Medical AB,
alexandra.fleetwood@diamyd.com
Phone: +46-8-661 00 26
About Diamyd Medical
Diamyd Medical is a Swedish biopharmaceutical company focusing on development of
pharmaceuticals for treatment of autoimmune diabetes and its complications. The
company's most advanced project is the GAD-based drug Diamyd® for type 1
diabetes for which Phase III trials are ongoing in both the US and Europe.
Furthermore, the company has ongoing clinical studies within chronic pain, using
its Nerve Targeting Drug Delivery System (NTDDS). The company has also
out-licensed the use of GAD for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
Diamyd Medical has offices in Sweden and in the US. The share is quoted on the
OMX Stockholm Nordic Exchange (ticker: DIAM B) and on OTCQX in the US (ticker:
DMYDY) administered by the Pink Sheets and the Bank of New York (PAL). Further
information is available on the company's web site: www.diamyd.com.
This information is disclosed in accordance with the Securities Markets Act, the
Financial Instruments Trading Act or demands made in the exchange rules.
Diamyd Medical AB (publ.)
Linnégatan 89 B, SE-115 23 Stockholm, Sweden. Phone: +46 8 661 00 26, Fax: +46 8
661 63 68
E-mail: info@diamyd.com. VATno: SE556530-142001.
(www.omxnordicexchange.com ticker: DIAM B; www.otcqx.com ticker: DMYDY)
