pSivida Corp Awarded Two Therapeutic Discovery Project Grants Totaling $489,000
WATERTOWN, Mass., Nov 03, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
pSivida Corp. (NASDAQ:PSDV, ASX:PVA), a leader in the development of sustained release drug delivery products for the treatment of back-of-the-eye disease including the product candidate Iluvien for the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema, today announced that it has been awarded two grants totaling $489,000 under the IRS Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP). The grants were awarded to pSivida to help fund further research on new generations of the company's drug delivery technologies targeting ophthalmic diseases.
The Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery project (QTDP) is provided under new section 48D of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-148). The credit is a tax benefit targeted to therapeutic discovery projects that show a reasonable potential to result in new therapies to treat areas of unmet medical need or prevent, detect or treat chronic or acute diseases and conditions, reduce the long-term growth of health care costs in the United States, or significantly advance the goal of curing cancer within 30 years. Allocation of the credit also takes into consideration which projects show the greatest potential to create and sustain high-quality, high-paying U.S. jobs and to advance U.S. competitiveness in life, biological and medical sciences. The Therapeutic Discovery Project tax credit is only available to companies with 250 or less employees. The credit covers up to 50 percent of a qualified investment. To provide an immediate boost to U.S. biomedical research, the credit is available for qualified investments made or to be made in 2009 and 2010.
About pSivida Corp.
pSivida is a world leader in the development of tiny drug delivery products that are administered by implantation, injection or insertion and provide sustained release of drugs on a controlled and level basis for months or years. The Company uses these systems to develop treatments for serious, unmet, medical needs. The Company's most advanced product candidate, Iluvien, delivers fluocinolone acetonide (FA) for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). DME is a leading cause of vision loss, affecting more than a million people in the US alone, for which there is currently no FDA-approved drug therapy. Iluvien is licensed to Alimera Sciences, Inc., which is completing fully-recruited Phase III clinical trials and submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2010. In August 2010, the FDA granted Priority Review status for the NDA. pSivida has two products approved by the FDA for sustained release delivery of drug to treat chronic back-of-the-eye diseases: Retisert® for the treatment of posterior uveitis and Vitrasert® for the treatment of AIDS-related cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis. pSivida has licensed both of these products and the technologies underlying them to Bausch & Lomb Incorporated. pSivida also has a worldwide collaborative research and license agreement with Pfizer Inc. under which Pfizer may develop additional ophthalmic products using certain of the Company's technologies. pSivida's intellectual property portfolio consists of over 50 patent families, more than 100 granted patents, including patents accepted for issuance, and more than 150 patent applications. pSivida conducts its operations from Boston in the United States and Malvern in the United Kingdom.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENTS UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: Various statements made in this release are forward-looking, and are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and potentially inaccurate assumptions. All statements that address activities, events or developments that we intend, expect or believe may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. The following are some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed, anticipated or implied in our forward-looking statements: Alimera's ability to obtain regulatory approval of and successfully commercialize Iluvien; risk/benefit profile of Iluvien; timeliness of approval, if any, of Iluvien and any limitations on uses thereof; ability to complete clinical trials and obtain regulatory approval of other product candidates; ability to raise capital; ability to achieve profitability; impairment of intangibles; fluctuations in the fair values of certain outstanding warrants; fluctuations in operating results; ability to derive revenues from Retisert; ability to obtain partners to develop and market products; termination of license agreements; competition; market acceptance of products and product candidates; reduction in use of products as a result of future publications; ability to protect intellectual property or infringement of others' intellectual property; retention of key personnel; product liability; consolidation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries; compliance with environmental laws; manufacturing risks; risks and costs of international business operations; credit and financial market conditions; legislative or regulatory changes; volatility of stock price; possible dilution through exercise of outstanding warrants and stock options or future stock issuances; possible influence by Pfizer; ability to pay any registration penalties; absence of dividends; and other factors described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the dates on which they are made. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise our forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes makes it clear that any projected results expressed or implied in such statements will not be realized.
For more information on pSivida, visit www.psivida.com.
SOURCE: pSivida Corp.
In US:
Beverly Jedynak, President, Martin E. Janis & Company, Inc.,
312-943-1123
bjedynak@janispr.com
or
In Australia:
Brian Leedman, Vice President, Investor Relations, pSivida Corp
+61 8 9227 8327
brianl@psivida.com
