The Duros Technology

The Duros System is a miniature drug-dispensing pump which can be as small as a wooden matchstick. We have licensed the DUROS system for specified fields of use from ALZA, pursuant to a development and commercialization agreement entered into effective April 1998. The potential of the DUROS technology as a platform for providing drug therapy was demonstrated by the FDA's approval in March 2000 of ALZA's VIADUR® product (leuprolide acetate implant), a once-yearly implant for the palliative treatment of prostate cancer, the first approved product to incorporate the DUROS implant technology. The DUROS system can be used for therapies requiring systemic or site-specific administration of drug. To deliver drugs systemically as in our CHRONOGESIC investigational drug candidate, the DUROS system is placed just under the skin, for example in the inner side of the upper arm, in an outpatient procedure that is completed in just a few minutes using a local anesthetic. Removal or replacement of the product is also a simple and quick procedure completed in the doctor's office. Clinical trials of CHRONOGESIC have been suspended pending the redesign of the delivery system to address performance issues.

For more information, download the DUROS® Fact Sheet (.PDF)