Ventaira back in Battelle's hands as it bids to get inhaler on market - Business First of Columbus:

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The Columbus research institutionsaid Oct. 29 it had reacquire d for an undisclosed sum. Battelle had spun off the compan in 2000 so it coulds attract capital from drug manufacturers andotheer profit-making entities. "We've assessed the technology and the time to marketr and assessed themarket conditions," said Ventaira CEO Lesliw Williams. "The best thing for the companyh is to sell the assets backto Ventaira, its third name, has never generatecd revenue as it works to get its Mystifc inhaler approved by the . The FDA does not commenf on pending applications. Ventairsa was aiming for a 2008 release ofthe inhaler, but Williamxs said the introduction will be later.
She declined to projectr when the device may hitthe market. The Mysticv is a replacement for hand-helfd inhalers that use chemical propellants or force liquic through tiny holes to createa spray. it uses an electric field to creatdea super-fine mist of uniformly sized The company has said it's a bettedr way to deliver an unvarying dose of medicine to treat asthma or even cancer becausre the droplets can travel deeper into the lungs. "It's one of the most gentl e ways to createan aerosol," said Willia m Zimlich, the lead inventor on an eight-person team that developed the device at Columbus-based Battellee in the 1990s.
He and othetr founders left the company as part of a 2004 reorganizationj and havebeen e-mailing each other aboutt this week's news. Of the original Chief Financial Officer Janice Beauchamp remainsz withthe business. Zimlich is now chief executiveof , a Dublin-base d subsidiary of a German pharm corporation. "I'm saddened that Ventaira couldn'g find a big pharmaceutical partnere to invest and keep a product Zimlich said. "We went through a lot of work to raise monegy and we had themarkets "There's going to be some unmet need out there that'd going to bring electrohydrodynamics back to the forefront," he said.
Williamsz said it would be up to Battelle to assess the technologh and whether to continudthe project. Battelle spokeswoman Katy Delanety said theorganization wouldn't commentt beyond a news release disclosinf the acquisition. Several factors drovd the fledgling operation backto Battelle's including the delay of Mystic's release and an uncertaihn market for the product, Williams "Clearly, they (Battelle) have more she said. Ventaira has 20 mostly engineersand scientists. Williamsd credited them with redesigning the inhaled so it works in varyintg environmental conditions and takes operator idiosyncrasiedinto account.
"Patients aren't robotse and they won't do it the same every she said. There are other uses being explored for themist technology, she said. Zimlicn said investors might have been shakeb by the announcement last week that drug maker was droppinv an inhaledinsulin treatment. "There'es been a shift in what is going to work for inhaled he said. "The market acceptance is not But the Pfizer decision likely was bases more on problems with the productf than the concept ofinhaled drugs, said Les health care strategist for LLC in New "It doesn't mean the end of inhaled he said.
"If you can successfully deliver a drug to the lung s thatalso doesn't impact the lungs in a negative way, then you have a However, the FDA and the market may be more cautioux about new devices. "It may have more commercial challenges than Funtleyder said. 1990s: using technology from , inventsz hand-held device that creates ultra-fine mist that can deliverf drugs directly to the lungs withourt the useof propellants. 2000: Battelle spinxs off in Columbus. 2002: Spinofc business renamed 2003: BattellePharma attracts $22 millio in venture capital. 2004: Compan y changes name to VentairaPharmaceuticals Inc. and goes througjh reorganization, cutting to 12 employee from 36.
Most of eight founding officers are askedto leave. 2006: Ventaira signws Clinton, Mass.-based to manufacture its Mystic inhaler. 2007: After pumping up its ventur ecapital fund, which invests in companies like Battelle reacquires the company.