Wall Street Transcript Interview with Thomas B. King, the President, CEO and Director of Alexza Pharmaceutical, Inc. (ALXA)
67 WALL STREET, New York - April 25, 2014 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs and Equity Analysts. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
Topics covered: Health Care - Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals - Orphan Drug and Biologics Manufacturing - Oncology Drug Development - Orphan Drugs - FDA Approval Process - Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Companies Valuation - Genetic and Cell Therapies
Companies include: Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXA) and many more.
In the following excerpt from the Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Report, the President, CEO and Director of Alexza Pharmaceutical, Inc. (ALXA) discusses company strategy and the outlook for this vital industry:
TWST: Can you tell us a bit more about the development plans for Staccato, and what other new products might be on the drawing board that you can talk about?
Mr. King: When I think about our pipeline, back in 2007 and 2008, Alexza had five product candidates in development and a very robust pipeline based on our proprietary Staccato technology. With the financial crisis in late 2008, we focused the company solely on ADASUVE and had to put our development pipeline basically on the shelf.
With the recent approvals on ADASUVE, we are now in a position to reactivate our product pipeline, which is very exciting for us. We believe that ADASUVE's combination of an effective drug with our Staccato system can be a model for changing other suboptimal standard-of-care regimens. We also believe that the three primary attributes of our Staccato technology - which is predictable, speed of onset combined with a noninvasive orally inhaled drug delivery - is especially well-suited for treating acute and intermittent conditions, where speed and patient control are factors.
The next product in our pipeline is AZ-002, also known as Staccato alprazolam. This product leverages the Staccato attributes, and we hope to see clinical evidence of its efficacy in treating acute repetitive seizures, which is an important subset of patients with epilepsy. We expect to start a Phase II proof-of-concept study with AZ-002 this quarter.
We are also investigating a variety of other product candidates for possible clinical development and are striving to improve our Staccato drug delivery technology that we believe will drive our product pipeline. So 2014 is exciting from a pipeline perspective, because for the first time in several years, we're getting to put a product back into clinical development, and we look to see data from that clinical trial in 2015.
TWST: Do you have competition in this area, or is the Staccato system somewhat unique?
For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
