Skin is complex. The nature of the molecules that comprise the skin, and their structure are such that it is usually very difficult to predict whether a given drug will pass through the skin or the degree to which a given molecular penetration enhancers (MPE^™) might affect its permeability. To obtain such data experiments need to be conducted and traditional experiments are slow and costly.

High throughput experimentation (HTE) enables more measurements to be made, in a given time frame, and usually at a reduced per-measurement cost. Nuvo has pioneered HTE approaches to skin property measurement and now operates, in production mode, a number of HTE platforms, including INSIGHT^™, STORM^™, TEMPEST^™ and TORNADO^™. The INSIGHT^™ platform was awarded the bronze medal in the Science and Medical category of the 2009 Edison awards which recognizes excellence in marketing, development and innovation.

With INSIGHT^™ the Company measures how formulations, typically containing various MPE^™s or MPE^™ cocktails, affect the skin barrier.  INSIGHT^™ increases the rate at which promising MPE^™s or MPE^™ cocktails can be identified relative to conventional experiments. With INSIGHT^™ Nuvo has created an experimental database from tens of thousands of MPE^™s and MPE^™ cocktails, an achievement that would have taken many years to complete using traditional screening methods. It is within this database that Nuvo has discovered multiplexed molecular penetration enhancers (MMPE^™s), those MPE^™ combinations that appear to work synergistically to enhance delivery of a particular drug into or through the skin.

With STORM^™ the Company measures the dynamics of the effect of formulations on the skin barrier, from about a second after the formulation contacts the skin.

With TEMPEST ^™ the Company measures changes in formulation composition affect the overall rate at which a given drug contained in a formulation permeates through the skin.

With TORNADO^™ the Company measures the rate at which a given drug contained in a formulation permeates into and through the skin. The TORNADO^™ platform is expected to become the primary screening platform at the Company's research facility and is intended to replace and/or complement earlier screening systems.

The Company believes that these HTE screening platforms provide the Company's scientists with the ability to make many more experiments on skin in a given period of time than other researchers using traditional methods. The Company also has an active program of technology development, directed to continued improvement and expansion of its current HTE platforms, as well as to the innovation of new HTE approaches.