Antares wins $450,000 milestone payment from BioSante Pharmaceuticals

BioSante has received $3.32 million on signing with Azur, of which approximately $1.5 million was purchased inventory. Antares is entitled to 25% of any upfront and milestone payments as well as a percentage of product royalties. Azur has agreed to market Elestrin using its women’s health and urology sales force of approximately 50 sales people that target estrogen prescribing physicians in the US comprised mostly of gynecologists.

According to Antares, Elestrin is a low-dose transdermal estradiol therapy delivered in advanced transdermal delivery (ATD) gel system, which is licensed to BioSante. Additionally, Antares is currently conducting a Phase III study of Anturol, an oxybutynin gel for over-active bladder which incorporates the same ATD gel system and was approved in Elestrin by the FDA.

Antares has also announced that a new patent has been issued covering Elestrin, which is expected to expire on June 25, 2022. The named inventors of this patent are both Antares Pharma and BioSante. This new patent is the second issued patent that covers Elestrin potentially providing further protection against generic competition.

Paul Wotton, president and CEO of Antares Pharma, said: We are pleased that Elestrin will be commercialized by a focused and committed organization like Azur. Our ATD system is an effective technology used to deliver drugs in a reproducible and patient friendly manner which we believe will provide Azur with a competitive advantage over existing estradiol therapies and may result in additional milestone and royalty revenues in the future.