As reported today by BBC News,  a NJ based specialist pharmaceutical company, Antares Pharma has developed a gel based contraceptive, Nesterone® that is as effective as taking a pill, acccording to phase 2 clinical trial data presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) in Denver.

According to researchers, the contraceptive delivered by the gel is as effective as that delivered by a traditional pill, but doesn’t show many of the adverse events and side effects such as weight gain & acne.  As always with promising phase 2 data, there is no guarantee that the phase 3 trial will show the same results, but this is definitely an innovative product to watch.

Nesterone® is being jointly developed with the Population Council (a non-profit organization). According to the lastest Antares Pharma investor presentation, they are looking for partnership opportunities for this product.  Based on the positive phase 2 data and a market worth $1B,  I am sure they will now have some business development interest.

Also, the company has a number of other injectable and transdermal gel products in development and collaborations with Teva, Uman Pharma and BioSante Pharmaceuticals. It will be interesting to watch how this small, emerging company and its products develop. A company to watch.

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