Category: Drug-Device Combinations

Taris taps new CEO

July 19, 2010 by MassDevice staff

Taris Biomedical hired Sarma Duddu to be its new president and CEO.

The Lexington, Mass.-based durg/device developer said Duddu brings 15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience to the corner office, where he'll start immediately.

pSivida, Alimera file EU NDA for macular degeneration treatment

July 9, 2010 by MassDevice staff

pSivida Corp. (NSDQ:PSDV) licensee Alimera Sciences (NSDQ:ALIM) submitted a Marketing Authorization Application in several European Union countries for Iluvien, an ophthalmic drug/device combination.

Iluvien is a sustained release drug delivery system that delivers flucocinolone acetonide, a steroid for the treatment of diabetic macular edema.

Ohio med-device start-ups win grants

May 24, 2010 by MedCity News

By Mary Vanac

Two northeast Ohio start-ups that are developing treatments for psoriasis and for people who have trouble swallowing are getting $25,000 grants from the Innovation Fund of the Lorain County Community College Foundation.

Fluence Therapeutics Inc. of Akron, which has licensed photodynamic therapy technology from University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, is developing both a drug and a medical device to treat psoriasis. The company will use its grant for three things, CEO Warren Goldenberg said.

Alimera repays $15 million pSivida note

April 28, 2010 by MassDevice staff

pSivida Corp. (NSDQ:PSDV) reeled a $15.3 million payment from Alimera Sciences Inc. (NSDQ:ALIM) triggered by Alimera's April 21 initial public offering.

The two companies are collaborating on a drug-device combination called Iluvien, designed to treat diabetic macular edema. Last week Alimera raised $72 million in its IPO, selling 6.6 million shares at $11 each.

Echo Therapeutics, Ferndale Pharma launch drug-device trial

April 27, 2010 by MassDevice staff

Echo Therapeutics Inc. (OTC:ECTE) and Ferndale Pharma Group Inc. enrolled the first patients in a clinical trial of Echo's Prelude SkinPrep device and Ferndale's 4 percent topical lidocaine, ahead of an application for 510(k) clearance for the drug-device combo from the Food & Drug Administration.

Franklin, Mass.-based Echo's Prelude device is a needle-free, transdermal drug delivery system that ablates a thin layer of skin before a drug is applied.

pSivida aims to slow retinitis pigmentosa

April 19, 2010 by MassDevice staff

pSivida Corp. (NSDQ:PSDV) is touting a study of a drug-device combination that it says helps slow the advance of a degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa.

The disease involves the gradual deterioration of the rods and cones that make up the retina. Symptoms begin with night blindness and progress over years or decades to tunnel vision and, often, total blindness. CEO Dr. Paul Ashton told MassDevice that the Watertown, Mass.-based company's Durasert is inserted into the back of the eye, where it slowly releases a steroid called fluocinolone acetonide.

Ajit Gill takes over for John Santini as the top man at MicroCHIPS

April 13, 2010 by MassDevice staff

As MicroCHIPS Inc. prepares to leave the laboratory and enter clinical development, the company is bringing in a new CEO to replace outgoing co-founder John Santini.

The Bedford, Mass.-based drug delivery systems developer tapped Ajit Gill, the former CEO of Auspex Pharmaceuticals and Nektar Therapeutics, for its corner office. In addition to his duties as president and CEO, Gill will also sit on the company's board of directors.