You know those nights. The ones where you toss and turn, where it’s too hot, or too cold. The ones where you count sheep, stare at the ceiling, and eventually abandon your attempt at sleep to go eat cheese out of the bag at midnight (just admit it, we all do it).
Some have these nights more than others with insomnia affecting between 30-48% of older adults. Women are 40% more likely to suffer from insomnia at some point in their lives compared to men.
Biotechnology company Arovella Therapeutics (ASX: ALA) is developing medications to treat cancer and conditions that affect the central nervous system.
The Company has officially launched their insomnia treatment, ZolpiMist which is designed to work in the short term, helping sufferers get some shut eye.
Arovella is also working on an immunotherapeutic drug with Imperial College London to treat blood cancers by activating immune cells called natural killer T cells.
The Company is also working to develop oral spray medications from existing pharmaceuticals to enhance delivery of drugs at a lower dosage. ZolpiMist is one such spray which has been approved for use by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Australian Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA) and Chile’s Ministry of Health. The drug is currently marketed in the USA. In August of last year, Arovella entered into a licence and distribution agreement with STADA Australia who have now commercially launched ZolpiMist in Australia. STADA also have the option to take the product to New Zealand if they see a market opportunity.
Whilst STADA is coordinating distribution, Arovella is organising manufacture of the product where they are currently optimising packaging to include a child resistant lock. Upon TGA approval of the new lock, Arovella will receive a milestone payment of $40,000. Once the new packaging with child lock is implemented, Arovella expects 10% royalties on net sales of ZolpiMist.
“This is an exciting milestone for Arovella,” said CEO and MD of the Company, Dr Michael Baker. “We expected the product to be commercialised in the third quarter of 2022 and we have achieved that milestone early. We see ZolpiMist as an important product to assist with sleep, particularly with the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is due to the hard work of our team and our manufacturing partner that we have been able to achieve this milestone. We look forward to continuing and expanding the partnership with STADA.”
Arovella rebranded from SUDA Pharmaceuticals late last year to better align their name with their business direction, focussing on immuno-oncology, a market that is growing rapidly with forecasters expecting it to reach USD $100 billion by 2027.
Samantha Freidin is a business journalist at Emerald Financial whilst also completing a Masters of Marketing and Digital Communications at Monash University.
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