Contraceptive Program Supported by up to $20.5 Million in Grant Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Daré Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:DARÉ), a leader in women’s health innovation, today announced the closing of the previously announced acquisition by merger of privately-held Microchips Biotech, Inc. As a result of the transaction, Microchips is a wholly owned subsidiary of Daré. Microchips is developing an innovative, wireless, user-controlled drug delivery technology with potential utility across multiple therapeutic areas, including contraception. The technology is designed to store and precisely deliver hundreds of therapeutic doses, over months or years in a single implant and is intended to allow for changes to dosage levels via a wireless remote. The application of this technology in developing a contraceptive product has been supported by the Gates Foundation in the form of approximately $17.9 million in grant funding to date. Microchips is eligible to receive up to $2.5 million in additional grant funding from the Gates Foundation in 2020 to cover the costs of ongoing development activities of the contraceptive program.
The microchip-based implant was originally developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by renowned researchers Robert Langer, Ph.D. and Michael J. Cima, Ph.D., and is protected by 98 patents granted and 19 patent applications pending.
“We are excited to integrate this exciting new technology into our novel portfolio of women’s health product candidates. We believe this product has the opportunity to revolutionize the way women use contraception,” said Sabrina Martucci Johnson, President and CEO of Daré Bioscience. “We continue to focus our efforts on accelerating novel innovation capable of addressing persistent unment needs in women’s health, and we believe both the Microchips technology and our innovative hormone-free monthly contraceptive candidate, Ovaprene, represent truly novel advancements in an area in need of innovation.”
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Source: Nasdaq
