Access Pharmaceuticals MuGard Added to CVS Caremark’s Pharmacy Benefit Network

DALLAS and NEW YORK, July 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (OTCBB: ACCP), a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary drug-delivery platforms to develop treatments in areas of oncology, cancer supportive care and diabetes, announced that its lead product for oral mucositis, MuGard, has been added to CVS Caremark's pharmacy benefit network.  Reimbursement coverage for MuGard is now available with standard pharmacy benefit copayment.  Placement in the pharmacy benefit plan will assist in driving increased reimbursement coverage of MuGard.

CVS Caremark is the largest pharmacy health care provider in the United States.  As one of the country's largest pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), CVS Caremark covers 50 million lives and 2,000 different insurance benefits plans.  Several Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) utilize CVS Caremark's PBM's services, including Amerigroup, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Federal Employee Program (FEP), Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and Tufts Health Plan.  

"We are pleased with the recent addition to CVS Caremark's network as it will offer cancer patients increased access to MuGard allowing them the ability to take control of their anticancer regimen from day one and significantly reduce the onset and severity of oral mucositis," said Anthony Mottola, Vice President, Managed Care and Market Access, Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  He continued, "We look forward to a long relationship with CVS Caremark and are committed to working with other pharmacy benefit managers, as well as adding more payers and programs to continue making MuGard more readily available to cancer patients."

About MuGard:

MuGard is a novel; ready-to-use mucoadhesive oral wound rinse and coating for the management of oral mucositis, a debilitating side effect of many anticancer treatments. Up to 40% of all patients receiving chemotherapy and 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. The market for the treatment of oral mucositis is estimated to be in excess of $1 billion world-wide.  For more information, please visit www.MuGard.com.

About Access:

Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes proprietary products for the treatment and supportive care of cancer patients. Access' products include MuGard™ (www.MuGard.com), which has received FDA marketing clearance for the management of patients with mucositis, ProLindac™, a second generation DACH Platinum in Phase 2 clinical testing of patients with ovarian cancer, and Thiarabine™, a novel nucleoside analog that has demonstrated both pre-clinical and clinical activity in certain cancers; currently in a Phase 1/2a trial in hematological malignancies at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.  

The company also has other advanced drug delivery technologies including CobaCyte™-mediated targeted delivery and CobOral-oral drug delivery, its proprietary nanopolymer delivery technology based on the natural vitamin B12 uptake mechanism.  For additional information on Access Pharmaceuticals, please visit our website at www.accesspharma.com.

This press release contains certain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27a of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include those relating to: our cash burn rate, clinical trial plans and timelines and clinical results for ProLindac, MuGard, Thiarabine and Cobalamin and other product candidates, our ability to achieve clinical and commercial success and our ability to successfully develop marketed products. These statements are subject to numerous risks, including but not limited to Access' need to obtain additional financing in order to continue the clinical trial and operations and to the risks detailed in Access' Annual Reports on Form 10-K and other reports filed by Access with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc.