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SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - May 21, 2012) - Aegis Therapeutics LLC announced today that it has been awarded U.S. Patent No. 8,133,863 providing broad protection for pharmaceutical composition of octreotide. The highly stable octreotide formulations incorporate Aegis' Intravail®/ProTek® excipients suitable for all routes of administration including oral, buccal, metered nasal spray, or injection. Intravail® and ProTek® excipients allow for non-invasive delivery with high efficiency. They stabilize, prevent aggregation, and reduce unwanted immunogenicity of protein and peptide therapeutics while avoiding the oxidative damage caused by polysorbate surfactants currently found in many protein injectable drugs.

Octreotide is a peptide hormone that mimics natural somatostatin pharmacologically. Octreotide is used to treat acromegaly, severe diarrhea and flushing episodes associated with metastatic carcinoid tumors, and profuse watery diarrhea associated with Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide Tumors (VIPomas).

A published preclinical study conducted at Albany Medical College by Dr. Patricia Grasso demonstrated that formulations of octreotide incorporating Aegis' Intravail®/ProTek® excipients show oral bioavailability that equals or exceeds that achieved by injection*, offering the prospect of a "first in class" non-injectable octreotide. Non-injectable dosage forms of previously injectable-only drugs provide greater patient convenience and acceptance, improved compliance, and avoidance of needle-stick injury and disposal problems associated with the use of needles, paving the way to increased market share and substantial growth in overall product sales.

About Aegis Therapeutics
Aegis Therapeutics LLC is a drug delivery technology company commercializing its patented drug delivery and drug formulation technologies through product-specific licenses. For more information about Aegis, please visit: http://www.aegisthera.com.

*Regulatory Peptides 167 (2011) 233-238.