Emisphere is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on a unique and improved delivery of pharmaceutical compounds, medical foods and dietary supplements using its Eligen® Technology. These molecules and compounds could be currently available or in development. Such molecules are usually delivered by injection; in many cases, their benefits are limited due to poor bioavailability, slow on-set of action or variable absorption. The Eligen® Technology can be applied to the oral route of administration as well as other delivery pathways, such as buccal, rectal, inhalation, intra-vaginal or transdermal.
Emisphere is charting new frontiers in drug delivery. The Company’s core business strategy is to use its proprietary Eligen® Technology to develop novel oral forms of injectable drugs or poorly absorbed compounds.
The broadly applicable Eligen® Technology and Emisphere’s current product candidates in the pipeline represent the foundation of the Company’s value proposition and create significant opportunities for growth. Emisphere’s pipeline includes product candidates that have reached clinical development as well as a variety of preclinical research and development programs. Emisphere is carrying out these programs both in collaboration with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and independently. Promising marquee products in the pipeline include an improved formulation of oral Vitamin B12, oral calcitonin for osteoarthritis and osteoporosis (in Phase III development with Novartis Pharma AG), and oral GLP-1 and GLP-1 analogues for Type 2 diabetes (with partner Novo Nordisk A/S).
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is necessary for the formation and maturation of red blood cells and for the synthesis of DNA. It is also necessary for normal nerve function and assists in the body’s immune system.
Emisphere is developing an oral formulation of Vitamin B12 with our Eligen® Technology as a medical food for patients with Vitamin B12 deficiency.
Product Candidates
Emisphere currently has a number of product candidates in its pipeline at varying stages. There are multiple product candidates in clinical development as well as several pre-clinical development/research programs.
The Company considers specific criteria when deciding whether to devote resources to a development program. The markets that Emisphere seeks to enter for a potential product should be substantial. The product candidate should meet a clear unmet medical or market need and the product profile should clearly differentiate Emisphere’s products. The Company also considers the level of product development effort in relation to a reasonable return on investment within an acceptable timeframe.
Marquee Products
Salmon Calcitonin for Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis
Oral GLP-1, GLP-1 Analogues, Oral Insulin and Combined PYY and GLP-1 for Type 2 Diabetes
Additional Products in Active Development
Oral Recombinant Human Growth Hormone
Past Development Programs
Oral Recombinant Parathyroid Hormone
Emisphere’s Eligen® Technology
Emisphere has created a broad-based proprietary oral drug delivery platform known as the Eligen® Technology which makes it possible to avoid injections for drug administration. The Eligen® Technology facilitates the absorption of small and large molecules without altering their chemical form, biological integrity or pharmacological properties.
Through the Eligen® system, delivery agents or “carriers” facilitate or enable transport of therapeutic molecules, including large peptides and proteins, across biological membranes such as those of the gastrointestinal tract, allowing the drugs to exert their desired pharmacological effect. The delivery agents have no known pharmacological activity in the amounts used to enhance oral drug delivery and therefore may be considered excipients.
The Eligen® Technology uses passive transcellular transport to enable drug molecules of all sizes to cross cell membranes. This is a unique and important feature of Eligen® not shared by other oral drug delivery systems currently available. Once the drug and paired carrier leave the gastrointestinal lumen and reach the intracellular space, they disassociate. This leaves the drug free to pass directly to the circulation and exercise its intended pharmacological action. The carrier is promptly eliminated by normal excretion pathways. Studies have shown that this process does not involve chemical modification of the drug molecule and the integrity of gastrointestinal absorptive cells is maintained.
