Emisphere deal

Sandoz Pharmaceuticals decided not to develop EMIS's oral delivery system for calcitonin, despite a joint feasibility study that demonstrated the system resulted in appropriate blood levels of the bone-building hormone calcitonin in primates. EMIS already has been approached by potential new partners for the product, President and CEO Michael Goldberg told BioCentury.

Goldberg said Sandoz's clinical development review committee turned down the product for strategic reasons, probably because the nasal form of calcitonin has taken longer than expected to develop. Sandoz markets nasally administered calcitonin in Italy and Spain, but has had to undertake more extensive testing than expected to get the product approved in other countries, he said. Sandoz declined to comment on the status of its nasal calcitonin. ...