COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 5, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- N8 Medical, an emerging pharmaceutical company addressing life-threatening global health challenges through the development of high-value pharmaceutical and antimicrobial device solutions based on ceragenins, a patented small molecule technology inspired by natural human defensins, announces today the spinout of its two key businesses into two independent entities.
The company's medical device business, which will retain the name, N8 Medical, will focus upon commercializing antimicrobial medical devices and coatings based on ceragenin technology to address the multibillion dollar public health and economic burden associated with medical device-related hospital acquired infections. N8 believes its antimicrobial devices and coatings will help prevent medical device infections, resulting in improved patient outcomes and reduced healthcare costs. Chief technology officer for the previous entity, Carl Genberg, JD, will lead the newly formed N8 Medical as chief executive officer.
The company's emerging pharmaceutical business, which is focused on developing small molecule pharmaceuticals for gastrointestinal tract inflammatory conditions will become Kinnear Pharmaceuticals. Currently, Kinnear Pharmaceuticals' lead program is an oral rinse for prevention and potential treatment of oral mucositis, the leading side effect of radiation therapy for head and neck cancers. The new entity will retain current N8 Medical CEO, Michael Triplett, PhD, as its chief executive officer. Bruce Halpryn, PhD, will serve as Kinnear's chief operating officer.
"The splitting of these companies into their more specific business lines will help both companies meet and exceed their goals by helping each to concentrate more fully on its own development path," said David J. Richards, executive chairman of N8, who will serve as executive chairman of both entities. "We have long believed in the technology that drives both these new entities. We are convinced that the focus generated by splitting the medical device and pharmaceutical businesses will provide shortened development timelines, greater capital efficiency and maximum investor value creation."
N8 Medical, Inc., was a privately held, emerging pharmaceutical company focused on the development of a broad spectrum anti-infective and anti-inflammatory therapies based upon ceragenins, a portfolio of synthetically produced small molecule chemical compounds that mimic the activities of endogenous human defensins or cationic antibacterial peptides that comprise the innate immune system. Both N8 Medical and Kinnear Pharmaceuticals will remain based in Columbus, OH.