New drug development is driving the growth of the drug delivery market. For biotechnology products, the needle-less administration of proteins and other complex molecules is a key differentiator for their commercialization. The use of drug delivery technology has two specific aims:

• To improve the administration of drugs whose delivery to specific target tissues is sub-optimal;

• Ensure that taking the drug is more acceptable to the patient, resulting in increased compliance to the prescribed treatment

Incorporating drugs into delivery systems benefits the patient by increasing efficacy and improving safety, convenience and quality of life.

In a large number of animal models, AT-1002 and its analogs have been shown to be very effective in promoting the delivery of a wide variety of drugs and vaccines via nasal, pulmonary, oral and systemic administration.  Alba is presently developing this technology with its lead candidate, AT-1006, for applications where the medical need remains high (e.g., delivery to the brain, siRNA delivery, etc.).