Marinus Pharmaceuticals Issued Patent for Ganaxolone

Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the leader in development of neurosteroids for central nervous system disorders, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued the company Patent Number 7,858,609 entitled, "Solid ganaxolone formulations and methods for the making and use thereof." The patent describes a novel class of small molecules to improve stability and bioavailability of nanoparticulate formulations of ganaxolone and will provide coverage until the end of 2026.

“Neurosteroids like ganaxolone have been difficult to formulate in the past because of differences in exposure that are dependent on the dose and amount of food in the stomach,” commented Kenneth Shaw, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, R&D at Marinus. “Marinus’ discovery of a novel class of stabilizing agents has produced new nanoparticulate formulations of ganaxolone that appear to be superior to historical formulations in minimizing these differences.”

The company has submitted a second patent application covering a new synthesis method for ganaxolone that decreases the number of process steps thus increasing cost efficiency.

Marinus Pharmaceuticals Adds Two Life Sciences Veterans to its Board of Directors

BRANFORD, Conn., - Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a developer of drugs to treat serious neurological and psychiatric disorders, today announced the appointment of George F. Horner III of Sofinnova Ventures and Harry T. Rein of Foundation Medical Partners to its Board of Directors.

"We are thrilled to expand our board of directors with George and Harry, both of whom have tremendous track records for advancing drug pipelines, leading pharmaceutical and life sciences companies and in delivering value to stakeholders," said John Krayacich, CEO , president and director of Marinus Pharmaceuticals. "Their expertise will be extremely valuable as we progress our lead product, ganaxolone for epilepsy, through additional clinical trials."

George F. Horner III is a pharmaceutical/biopharmaceutical executive with over 40 years of experience in the industry. Currently, Mr. Horner is an executive-in-residence with Sofinnova Ventures, a leading venture capital firm. Previously, he was CEO of Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, a CNS company that he directed to obtain FDA approval for Tetrabenazine (TBZ), the first drug ever licensed in the United States to treat Huntington's Disease patients. Prior to that, Mr. Horner was CEO of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, an anti-infective company that he grew from a market value of $12.8 million to a company sold to Pfizer for $1.9 billion. Additionally, he has held numerous executive, general management, business development and marketing/sales positions with Abbott Laboratories and E.R. Squibb across 4 continents, worldwide. Mr. Horner is Chairman of the Board of Creabilis Therapeutics of Luxembourg and a member of the board of Novexel, SA, France.

"I look forward to working with the Marinus team and am impressed by the financing and clinical milestones the company accomplished recently," said Mr. Horner. "I'm especially eager to be a part of a company with positive phase 2a data for a novel first in class antiepileptic drug that will address unmet medical needs for adults with partial onset seizures."

Harry T. Rein, general partner at Foundational Medical Partners, also joins the Marinus board of directors. Rein brings almost 30 years of executive experience to his role at Marinus. Prior to Foundation Medical Partners, Rein was principal founder of Canaan Partners and served for 15 years as founder and general manager of the venture capital investment firm. He also previously served as President and CEO of General Electric Venture Capital Corporation and directed several of GE's lighting businesses as general manager before joining GE Venture Capital Corporation. Rein has also held numerous senior level positions across a broad range of industries including tenures at Transaction Systems, Inc., Gulf Oil Corporation and Polaroid Corporation. He has served on the boards of directors of over 20 public and private entrepreneurial companies, including Cell Pathways, OraPharma (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), National MD (acquired by GE), OmniSonics, GenVec, CardioNet and Spine Wave. Rein also serves as a Trustee of the Cleveland Clinic, Chairman of the Industrial Advisory Board of Cleveland Clinic Innovations and Trustee of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business Foundation.