California-based startup Miist Therapeutics, which calls itself “a physics-based developer of inhaled medicines,” announced that it has raised $7 million in seed funding and is developing 2 candidates: MST-01 for smoking cessation and MST-02 for the treatment of migraine. Investors included Refractor Capital, Entrepreneur First, and the California Innovation Fund.
According to a white paper posted on the company’s web site, a Phase 1 study of MST-01 conducted at Royal Adelaide Hospital demonstrated that peak plasma levels of nicotine were achieved in less than 30 seconds post dose. The white paper also points to study data demonstrating that a 1.2 mg dose of MST-01 provided 92% symptom relief at 2 minutes post dose, which it says is faster and more effective than Nicorette lozenge, gum, or inhaler according to published data.
The press release describes the company’s delivery device as “a proprietary inhaler that generates sterile aqueous drug particles small enough to reach the peripheral lung,” and according to the white paper, the device is a vibrating mesh nebulizer that makes use of a system called “cross flow dilution” to generate particles smaller than 3 µm. The delivery platform was designed by Chief Technology Officer Jeff Schuster, who has extensive experience in inhaled drug delivery.
Miist CEO Dalton Signor commented, “So many therapeutic areas today are dominated by oral treatments that work far slower than patients want. A great example is migraine: when someone is suffering through debilitating migraine symptoms, they don’t want to wait an hour for their pill to kick in. Their number one priority is getting fast relief and that’s what we’re uniquely positioned to deliver.”
Read the Miist Therapeutics press release
