NexMed Announces Encouraging Pre-Clinical Results Showing the Ability of the NexACT® Technology to Enhance the Bioavailabili...

NexMed, Inc. (NASDAQ: NEXM), a specialty CRO with a pipeline of products based on the NexACT® technology, today announced data from a pre-clinical study examining the subcutaneous delivery of rituximab, the first FDA-approved therapeutic antibody for the treatment of cancer in the United States. The study results showed that animals receiving subcutaneous injections of rituximab, incorporated with NexACT, demonstrated a 46% enhancement in bioavailability over rituximab, alone.

Rituximab is a cancer medication that interferes with the development of cancer cells, slowing their growth and spread in the body. Delivered via intravenous infusion, rituximab is the active drug in Rituxan®, currently marketed by Genentech and Biogen IDEC, and prescribed to treat Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL), Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

Commenting on today’s news, Dr. Bassam Damaj, President and Chief Executive Officer of NexMed, stated, “The ability of the NexACT technology to successfully deliver rituximab subcutaneously in a pre-clinical setting may open the door to improving the delivery of other therapeutic antibodies, which the Company is in the process of studying. The use of human or humanized monoclonal antibodies, therapeutically, was a major breakthrough in the field of medicine. If the NexACT technology can ultimately be shown to lower the amount of antibody administered while improving the route of delivery and minimizing side effects, NexACT could potentially revolutionize the use of these drugs in the future. We look forward to advancing our work in this area and to the further studies that will be needed to validate these results in humans.”

About NexMed, Inc.

NexMed is the largest specialty CRO based in San Diego, CA and is one of the industry's most experienced CROs for in vitro and in vivo pharmacology services and research models. The Company’s goal is to generate revenues from the growth of its Discovery Pre-clinical CRO business, while aggressively seeking to monetize its proprietary NexACT drug delivery technology through out-licensing agreements with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, worldwide. At the same time, NexMed is actively pursuing partnering opportunities for its NexACT-based treatments for onychomycosis, psoriasis, sexual dysfunction and cancer. For further information on NexMed and its subsidiaries, visit the following websites: http://www.nexmed.com or http://www.bio-quant.com.

Rituxan® is a registered trademark of Biogen IDEC.

Forward-Looking Statement Safe Harbor

Statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act: with the exception of the historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that may individually or mutually impact the matters herein described for a variety of reasons that are outside the control of the Company including but not limited to its ability to obtain and/or NexMed’s ability to pursue its development strategy and the ability to replicate results from its preclinical research with the NexACT technology in later human clinical studies.