Research Overview
Nuvo believes it is positioned to research and develop new and existing drug product candidates in the area of pain for delivery into and through the skin.
Initially using technology licensed from the University of California, the Company has developed a family of synergistic multiplexed molecular penetration enhancers (MMPE™’s) that have aided in expanding the Corporation’s early stage pipeline of drug products that can be delivered into and through the skin.
The Company has discovered several penetration enhancer formulations known as MMPE™s, that interact with the skin to modify its permeability, thereby safely and effectively allowing certain drug molecules to pass into and through the skin to underlying tissues that cause pain, such as joints, nerves and muscles.
From these capabilities, Nuvo has created a portfolio of early stage drug candidates, including NRI-ANA, a topical lidocaine spray formulation. In June 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for NRI-ANA allowing for initiation of Phase 1 studies. In addition to internally generated product candidates and technologies, Nuvo recently acquired ZARS Pharma, Inc., a company with several novel proprietary pain drug delivery technologies, including Controlled Heat-Assisted Drug Delivery (CHADD®) technology and Peel drug delivery technology. The CHADD unit contains a heat-generating powder that consists of a proprietary mixture of several non-toxic ingredients which produce heat when exposed to air. The Peel drug delivery technology is a drug-containing cream which, once applied to a patient's skin, forms a white pliable layer that releases drug into the skin. The Peel technology allows drug delivery to continue until the product dries, after which drug transfer from the formulation stops.