Access Pharmaceuticals Signs Agreement With Leading Biopharmaceutical Company to Develop CobOral™ Formulation of Widely-Marketed

DALLAS and NEW YORK, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (OTC Bulletin Board: ACCP), a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary drug-delivery platforms to develop treatments in areas of oncology, cancer supportive care and diabetes, announced it has entered into a pre-licensing feasibility agreement with a leading biopharmaceutical company to develop an oral formulation of an undisclosed prostate cancer compound utilizing its proprietary vitamin B-12-based CobOral™ Drug Delivery Technology.  Access will develop CobOral formulations for testing by the biopharma company. Though the terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, Access indicated that any successful formulation developed will be jointly owned by the Parties and subject to a subsequent full licensing agreement.

"This is another important step for Access as we now have several ongoing collaborations, pre-licensing agreements and continued interest from additional top-tier partners for our CobOral Drug Delivery Technology," said Phillip Wise, Vice President for Business Development and Strategy, Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  He continued, "Having recently rebranded our vitamin B-12 oral-delivery technology to CobOral has helped raise our visibility with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in search for a novel broad-based oral drug-delivery technology and we anticipate moving forward on various applications of our CobOral platform."

Access continues to make significant progress with its proprietary CobOral delivery technology. Access' CobOral product development program initially focused on the oral delivery of insulin and human growth hormone (hGH), two peptides which currently can only be given by injection. Since presenting promising results at a major conference in mid-2008, Access has made substantial improvements to the formulation technology. An improved CobOral insulin-containing nanoparticle formulation delivered orally provided a pharmacological response (lowering of blood glucose levels in an animal model of diabetes) equivalent to greater than 80% of that achieved by insulin delivered subcutaneously. This represents a substantial oral bioavailability, indicating that this formulation has potential for clinical development and ultimate commercialization. Adaptation of this technology has provided a CobOral hGH formulation that has demonstrated good efficacy, represented by more than 25% improvement in weight gain, when given orally in an established animal model.  

About Access:

Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes proprietary products for the treatment and supportive care of cancer patients. Access' products include MuGard™ (www.MuGard.com), for the management of patients with mucositis, ProLindac™, currently in Phase II clinical testing of patients with ovarian cancer, and Thiarabine, a new generation nucleoside analog which has demonstrated both pre-clinical and clinical activity in certain cancers.

The company also has other advanced drug delivery technologies including CobaCyte™-mediated targeted delivery and CobOral-oral drug delivery, its proprietary nanopolymer delivery technology based on the natural vitamin B-12 uptake mechanism.  For additional information on Access Pharmaceuticals, please visit our website at www.accesspharma.com.

This press release contains certain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27a of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include those relating to: our cash burn rate, clinical trial plans and timelines and clinical results for ProLindac, MuGard, Thiarabine and Cobalamin and other product candidates, our ability to achieve clinical and commercial success and our ability to successfully develop marketed products. These statements are subject to numerous risks, including but not limited Access' need to obtain additional financing in order to continue the clinical trial and operations and to the risks detailed in Access' Annual Reports on Form 10-K and other reports filed by Access with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc.