Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: TTNP) has received financing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supporting the demonstration of its capability to produce a human immunodeficiency virus preventative therapy and contraceptive through a single implant that utilizes its novel ProNeura Tech. The funding will also ensure the company is available the technology to adolescent girls and women in low and middle-income nations.
ProNeura platform fitted for HIV reduction and enhancing contraception access.
Executive Chairman Marc Rubin said, “Reducing the burden of HIV, while simultaneously increasing access to contraceptive options, could have a major impact on the health of women and adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries. We believe that our ProNeura platform is uniquely suited to this program, as we have demonstrated the feasibility of long-term delivery of two pharmaceutically active ingredients from a single implant in an earlier development program. The continuous long-term delivery of a contraceptive/antiviral combination has the potential to have a greater public health impact in developing nations, compared with daily dosing of multiple compounds.”
Titan research option license agreement with MUSC FRD
Recently the company and MUSC Foundation for Research Development entered a research and option license agreement. According to agreement terms, Titan will be responsible for conducting certain research, concept development proofing, evaluation, and testing three tetrapeptide kappa-opioid receptor compounds connected to the provisional US Patent assigned by MUSC to FRD.
Titan COO and President Kate Beebe DeVarney said, “We are excited to begin research on MUSC FRD’s tetrapeptide kappa-opioid receptor agonist compounds, particularly following encouraging early results from the first studies of Titan’s kappa-opioid receptor agonist peptide, TP-2021, in a murine model of chronic pruritis. Having recently demonstrated that ProNeura-based implants provided sustained, therapeutic levels of TP-2021 in this animal model, we believe that our platform can be applied to MUSC FRD’s compounds as well, potentially strengthening and broadening Titan’s patent portfolio in this field.”
