Kurve Technology develops intelligent nasal drug delivery device, the ViaNase ID, which it says answers market demand for delivery systems that curb counterfeit drug use
Kurve Technology is launching the first nasal drug delivery device that incorporates drug identification and lock-out technologies, data transfer, and an electronic display - features that not only improve patient compliance but could prove to be important in curbing the multibillion dollar counterfeit drug market.
The latest in Kurve Technology's drug delivery device line, ViaNase ID, uses the company's proprietary technology to control which drugs are used in the device.
The attempted use of an unapproved drug renders the device inoperable.
ViaNase ID also records such information as drug name, product code, and expiration date.
This data can be saved to a data storage card or downloaded to a PC or PDA - useful for physicians, pharmacies, and patients.
ViaNase ID also simplifies the administration of nasally-delivered drugs.
On the electronic display, patients can see the number of doses delivered, number of doses left in the prescription, as well as receive alarm reminders when it's time to administer the drug.
As with ViaNase - the company's first nasal drug delivery device - Kurve will licence ViaNase ID to select pharmaceutical companies on a globally exclusive arrangement by therapeutic class.
Curbing the multi-billion dollar counterfeit drug market.
Counterfeit drugs are fake medicines (sugar pills), poorly manufactured substitutes, or generic medicines that are deliberately mislabeled so that the consumer gets the impression that they are authentic, approved products.
A recent report released by the Center for Medicines in the Public Interest projects counterfeit drug sales to reach US$75 billion by 2010.
In attempts to curb drug counterfeiting, the pharmaceutical industry with the support of the Federal Drug Administration is developing a 'pedigree' system that will track prescription drugs from production sites to retail pharmacies.
However, tracking ends at the pharmacy.
ViaNase ID picks up where this system leaves off by validating the pedigree of the drug at the device level - a step that could significantly curtail the use of counterfeit drugs and the misuse of correctly prescribed drugs.
"Both the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry have expressed great interest in curtailing the counterfeit drug market," stated Marc Giroux, CEO of Kurve Technology.
"As a truly intelligent nasal delivery device, ViaNase ID offers pharmaceutical companies one of the first methods at the patient level to confirm the drug is authentic".
Kurve Technology offers pharmaceutical companies versatile nasal delivery systems for local and systemic medical therapies.
Kurve's Controlled Particle Dispersion (CPD) technology intranasally delivers compounds with far greater efficacy and efficiency than traditional methods, it says.
The ViaNase product line of intelligent atomisers incorporates CPD to deliver a wide range of compounds, aiding the more than 200 million patients who suffer from such medical conditions as allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, sexual dysfunction, migraine headache, obesity, and CNS disease.
