Early Market Assessment Studies Suggest Larger Market Potential

DALLAS, July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (OTC Bulletin Board: ACCP) announced today that its European partner, SpePharm, has commenced commercial launch of MuGard in Norway. This follows previous commercial launches in the UK, Germany, Italy and Greece. Under a license from Access Pharmaceuticals, SpePharm is responsible for manufacturing, regulatory approval and commercialization in the 27 countries of Europe. SpePharm plans to launch MuGard throughout Europe over the next 12 months, with direct launches planned in France, Spain and the Benelux countries, and launches through local distributors in Central and Eastern Europe. The license agreement includes royalties on net sales to Access.

Central to the MuGard commercial launch strategy is a coordinated effort to seek reimbursement from governmental agencies, placement in pharmacy formularies and an aggressive seeding strategy in leading cancer treatment centers and with leading clinicians. Aggressive sampling and education of patients and clinicians on early prophylactic use is proving important in reducing incidence, severity and duration of oral mucositis.

"The early feedback includes a high rate of enthusiasm and intention to continue use by practicing clinicians and patients, who have used MuGard," stated Jeffrey B. Davis, Access' President & CEO. "We believe this enhanced awareness of the benefits associated with use of MuGard as a preventative treatment is likely to result in solid marketing traction and market penetration in Europe as SpePharm continues market seeding studies in the major EU markets to continue to develop awareness within the medical community. Access continues to aggressively seek ways to maximize MuGard's potential for cancer patients and for its shareholders."

MuGard is a novel, ready-to-use mucoadhesive oral wound rinse for the management of oral mucositis, a debilitating side effect of many anticancer treatments. Up to 40% of all patients receiving chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy develop moderate to severe mucositis, and almost all patients receiving radiotherapy for head and neck cancer and those undergoing stem cell transplantation develop mucositis. Updated clinical practice guidelines for the prevention and treatment of mucositis recommend the use of a preventive oral care regimen as part of routine supportive care along with a therapeutic oral care regimen if mucositis develops.