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SCRIP

July 13, 2006 - World Pharmaceutical News

Two business models help minimise risk, says Merrion CEO Following a recent interim round of fundraising, Merrion Pharmaceuticals needs another $20-30 million in the next round to take two of its products into Phase III trials next year, CEO Dr Michael McKenna told Scrip in an interview. The US company raised Euro6 million from private and institutional investors last month, as it began a feasibility study with Roche for Merrion's principal oral drug delivery technology. Under this collaboration, the two companies will assess Merrion's GIPET® (gastrointestinal permeation enhancement technology) with an undisclosed Roche compound.

Since Merrion's formation in 2004, when it acquired its technologies from Elan, the company has sustained itself with a dual business model, both developing its own products and forming drug delivery partnerships with other firms. This approach allows Merrion to minimise risk and maximise return, says Dr McKenna. On the drug delivery side, Merrion is concentrating on the use of new technologies to allow oral administration of therapies that can currently only be delivered by injection. A major advantage of this is improved patient convenience and compliance, Dr McKenna explains. GIPET® works on the principle of enhanced oral absorption and in 16 Phase I studies it has led to increased absorption across a wide range of drugs, Dr McKenna says. The technology is based on proprietary penetration enhancers that improve the uptake of drugs in the small intestine.

An additional advantage of GIPET® is that it has food additive (GRAS) status, meaning that there are no safety issues. Alongside GIPET®, Merrion's other main technology platform is GIRES (gastrointestinal retention system), a floating controlled-release capsule for once-daily administration. The company says this is suited to drugs that have short biological half-lives, exhibit a narrow absorption window in the upper small intestine and require extended local delivery to the gastrointestinal tract. Merrion has five partnerships at present that use its GIPET® and GIRES technologies. These include Sanofi-Aventis for a cholesterol-lowering drug and Roche for one of its oncology therapies. Dr McKenna did not name the other three partners, but described them as a US oncology company interested in the lifecycle management benefits, a UK neurology company and a US drug delivery firm with which Merrion is still negotiating.

For all five programmes, Dr McKenna expects first milestone payments next year. Merrion's in-house programme comprises four candidates, all of which use its GIPET® technology. Two of these are oncology drugs - MER-101 for bone cancer and Acyline (MER-104) for prostate cancer, on which Dr McKenna expects Phase III trial completion by 2008. The other products are MER-102 for deep vein thrombosis and Almerol™ for osteoporosis. Merrion has completed Phase I trials on these two therapies, and is looking to license them to a partner. Merrion's US office is the base of all its clinical development, regulatory affairs and business development activities. It also operates an R&D and cGMP facility in Dublin, Ireland, which was recently granted a manufacturing licence by the Irish Medicines Board. Alongside Dr McKenna, Merrion is led by vice-president and chief scientific officer Dr Thomas Leonard, chief operating officer John Lynch and chief financial officer Jonathan O'Connell. The company has just appointed Declan Ryan of Irelandia Investments to its board of directors.


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