To optimize the inherent medical benefits and commercial promise of our Surfactant Replacement Therapy (SRT) to address the unmet need for respiratory therapies for the NICU, we have implemented strategic alliances with Laboratorios del Dr. Esteve, S.A. and Chrysalis Technologies, a division of Philip Morris USA Inc.

Laboratorios del Dr. Esteve, S.A.

Our alliance with Esteve is for the development, marketing and sales of our products in Europe and Latin America.  We have full commercialization rights for our Surfactant Replacement Therapies, including Surfaxin for RDS and ARDS in Central America, South America and most countries in Europe.  Esteve has commercialization rights in its core operating markets in South Europe, principally Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece. 

“We have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Esteve, commented Robert J. Capetola, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Discovery. They remain a top shareholder with approximately 2.6 million shares and Dr. Antoni Esteve is a valuable member of our board of directors. Together we have approached this decision to redefine our alliance with the intent to optimize the medical and economic value of the Surfaxin brand. Esteve now has access to the full complement of our present NICU and Hospital SRT pipeline, and can focus their efforts in their core commercial markets. Discovery may now pursue additional partners with commercial strength in Northern and Eastern Europe. Given the robustness of the Surfaxin RDS data, and encouraging ARDS Phase 2 data, we believe we are well positioned to secure additional collaborative commercialization opportunities."

Esteve is one of the largest pharmaceutical-chemical corporations in Southern Europe, with an international presence through subsidiaries in Italy and Portugal and worldwide licensees and distributors. Since 1960, Esteve has established strategic alliances with multinational pharmaceutical-chemical companies to market their products in Southern Europe. Esteve has established its own successful research and development capabilities, developing new chemical entities and manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients with its research products marketed in over 90 countries.  For more information, visit the company's website at www.esteve.com.

Chrysalis Technologies (division of PMUSA)

Our alliance with Chrysalis Technologies (Chrysalis), a division of Philip Morris USA Inc., is to develop and commercialize aerosol SRT to address a broad range of serious respiratory conditions, such as ALI, neonatal respiratory failure, cystic fibrosis and others. The alliance unites two complementary respiratory technologies – our precision-engineered surfactant technology with Chrysalis’ novel aerosolization device technology that is being developed to enable the delivery of therapeutics to the deep lung.

Chrysalis has developed a proprietary aerosol generation technology that is being designed with the potential to enable targeted upper respiratory or deep lung delivery of therapies for local or systematic applications. The Chrysalis technology is designed to produce high-quality, low velocity aerosols for possible deep lung aerosol delivery. Aerosols are created by pumping the drug formulation through a small, heated capillary wherein the excipient system is substantially converted to the vapor state. Upon exiting the capillary, the vapor stream quickly cools and slows in velocity yielding a dense aerosol with a defined particle size. The defined particle size can be readily controlled and adjusted through device modifications and drug formulation changes.

The alliance focuses on therapies for hospitalized patients, including those in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and the adult intensive care unit (ICU), and can be expanded into other hospital applications and ambulatory settings. We and Chrysalis are utilizing our respective capabilities and resources to support and fund the design and development of integrated drug-device systems that can be uniquely customized to address specific respiratory diseases and patient populations. Chrysalis is responsible for developing the design for the aerosol device platform, patient interface and disposable dose packets. We are responsible for aerosolized SRT drug formulations, clinical and regulatory activities, and the manufacturing and commercialization of the drug-device products. We have exclusive rights to Chrysalis’ aerosolization technology for use with pulmonary surfactants for all respiratory diseases and conditions in hospital and ambulatory settings. Generally, Chrysalis will receive a tiered royalty on product sales.