LILLY NOSES INTO INSULIN DELIVERY: AGREEMENT WITH CALIFORNIA BIOTECH

LILLY NOSES INTO INSULIN DELIVERY: AGREEMENT WITH CALIFORNIA BIOTECH includes license for worldwide marketing of an intranasal insulin product based on the Mountain View, Calif. biotech firm's Nazdel drug delivery technology. In a recent press release, California Biotech announced that it had signed a "letter of intent" with Lilly to "undertake clinical development and worldwide marketing" of the Nazdel system for use with insulin. The firm indicated in its 1984 annual report that its intranasal insulin product had reached human clinicals. "The license will provide for payments by Lilly to Cal Bio which could amount to more than $10 mil. over the next four to five years contingent on product development milestones being met," California Biotech said. "The license will also provide for royalties after product introduction." "The Nazdel membrane permeation enhancer for nasal administration has already been shown to be effective in delivering insulin to diabetics, potentially bypassing the injection needle and its daily trauma," California Biotech's 1984 annual report states. "The system exhibits an additional advantage over the usual subcutaneous injection for the diabetic since it delivers insulin into the bloodstream where it can act more readily at mealtime." Carrying the brandname Nasalin, the product is "scheduled for more extended clinical trials in 1985," the annual report adds. Under the Nazdel system, "the drug to be delivered is mixed in a nasal spray that can deliver it across the mucous membrane into the circulatory system," the company noted. California Biotech said its membrane permeation enhancer for nasal administration is "currently being tested for its capability to deliver a large number of other drugs."