Matinas shares up as FDA awards meningitis drug "fast track" status

Matinas BioPharma Holdings

25/07/2019 13:41

** Drug developer's shares  MTNB.A  up 11.4% at 87 cents
premarket     
    ** Co says U.S. FDA designated its experimental drug MAT2203
a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) with "fast track"
status, as a treatment for cryptococcal meningitis  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGNX3ZDmHW
    ** The awards potentially give Matinas an additional five
years of marketing exclusivity as a cryptococcal meningitis
treatment if MAT2203 is approved by the FDA, co says
    ** QIDP and "fast track" awards offer drug developers
certain incentives like faster paths to market and exclusivity
    ** MAT2203 is co's oral version of broad spectrum fungicidal
medicine amphotericin B and uses formulation that boosts its
absorption and distribution to infected tissues
    ** FDA previously designated the drug as a QIDP with "fast
track" status as a treatment for three other conditions      
    ** MAT2203 has the potential to transform the way the potent
fungicidal is administered, without side effects historically
associated with the drug which have limited its use, co says
    ** Up to Wednesday's close, stock had doubled over the past
year

 (Reporting by Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru)
 ((Tamara.Mathias@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223
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