Angiotech extends exclusive licensing agreement with Poly-Med for biomaterial technologies
Vancouver. Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on drug-coated medical devices and biomaterials, today announced that it has licensed a portfolio of biomaterial, drug delivery, and medical device technologies from Poly-Med, Inc. This agreement will expand Angiotech's relationship with Poly-Med, a developer of biomaterial technologies, which it initially formalized in a June 2001 licensing agreement.
Today's announced collaboration grants Angiotech exclusive rights to several of Poly-Med's key technologies, including a portfolio of absorbable and biodegradable polymers and drug delivery technologies that are potentially useful in several areas of interest to Angiotech, including tissue repair, orthopedic surgery and vascular surgery. The two companies will also collaborate on research to develop products derived from the licensed technologies, and explore the application of these technologies to drug-loaded medical device and biomaterial research efforts already underway at Angiotech.
Anderson, South Carolina-based Poly-Med is devoted to the development of absorbable and biodegradable materials for medical applications. Poly-Med is headed by Shalaby W. Shalaby, Ph.D., who established the Johnson & Johnson Polymer Technology Center, presently known as the Advanced Biomaterials Center. The company's research team is comprised of 20 experts in the fields of novel biomaterials, biomedical textiles and drug delivery. Dr. Shalaby has been awarded in excess of 100 U.S. patents during his career; he has published nine books and more than 250 academic/technical articles.
"We are excited by the potential opportunities afforded us by this expanded relationship with Poly-Med and Dr. Shalaby," said George Daniloff, M.D., Ph.D., Angiotech's senior vice president of research and development. "As underscored by our companies' collaboration on the drug-loaded vascular wrap currently in clinical trials, Poly-Med's technologies and research expertise substantially enhance our portfolio of biomaterials, as well as our ability to exploit those materials in the exploration and development of other novel drug-loaded medical device products."
"There is significant synergy in the research expertise and focus of Angiotech and Poly-Med," said Dr. Shalaby. "We are confident that the strategic alignment of the two companies' complimentary skills and 'know-how' will lead to the development of many beneficial medical products."
The licensed Poly-Med technologies, coupled with technologies Angiotech obtained via its recent acquisitions of Cohesion Technologies and STS Biopolymers, provide Angiotech a substantial portfolio of biomaterials and drug delivery vehicles that can be leveraged into a broad array of drug-device combinations. Angiotech, the innovator of the paclitaxel-coated coronary stent, is a recognized leader in the burgeoning field of drug-coated medical devices.
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