Emisphere Technologies, Inc. announced that Novartis Pharma AG and Nordic Bioscience have completed recruitment for oral calcitonin formulated using Emisphere’s eligen(R) technology.

The phase III study will be conducted in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee and it is estimated to be completed in the second half of 2010.

eligen(R) technology is based on the use of EMISPHERE(R) delivery agents. Emisphere has synthesized a library of approximately 4 000 EMISPHERE(R) delivery agents. These delivery agents facilitate transport of therapeutic macromolecules across biological membranes via the body’s natural passive transcellular transport. Once the drug molecule crosses the membrane, the EMISPHERE(R) delivery agent dissociates from the active molecule, which then reestablishes its natural conformation. It was found that the use of EMISPHERE(R) delivery agents does not involve chemical modification of drug molecules.

Source: Emisphere Technologies, Inc.