Company History

home01An Inspired Beginning

In 2003, Mystic Pharmaceuticals was founded to address a simple yet important question: “Why do eye drops always overflow out of the eye?”

The eye dropper has been the predominant delivery system for ophthalmic drugs for over a century, with ninety-five percent of all ophthalmic drugs currently being delivered by this method. And yet, this common delivery method creates problems related to the physics of the eye drop, fluid dynamics and gravity. Relying on gravity to move a drop to the eye, the liquid must reach a volume of 25-40 μl to overcome adhesion to the bottle tip. Since the human eye can only hold about 10 μl of liquid, overflow or intake through the body’s natural drainage system, the tear ducts, often occurs. Unintended side effects can follow, such as systemic drug absorption, patient discomfort, eyelid allergic reactions, drug waste and inaccurate dosing.

While the answer to our original question itself was simple, resolving the problem required a complete departure from the ubiquitous, but outdated eyedropper. Mystic took a blank canvas approach to developing a completely new way of packaging and administering ophthalmic drugs to the eye. At the outset, we sought a technological quantum leap rather than the traditional incremental improvements offered by existing manufacturers. Our goal was to innovate and deliver an entirely new approach to ophthalmic drug delivery, valuable both to the patient and to the pharmaceutical manufacturer.

A Breakthrough In Drug Delivery

nautilusblacklight-1In 2006, the result of our financial and human capital investment in creative engineering and applied science was a simple yet elegant technology breakthrough in liquid drug delivery. Our proprietary VersiDoser® Delivery Platform was engineered for the delivery of ophthalmic drugs with advantages not available with any other existing device. Breakthroughs included ultra-precise and consistent dose delivery across a range of dose volumes starting at 5 μl, preservative free multi dose packaging, orientation independent operation and unparalleled ease of use for self-administration.
Our successful efforts to innovate a new approach to ophthalmic drug delivery yielded a much broader solution for significantly improving the packaging and delivery of drugs and biologics for nasal, otic, dermal, buccal, sublingual and other applications.

“In bringing this breakthrough to patients, Mystic supplied a VersiDoser® delivery system to elderly patients participating in a clinical trial treating Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) in January 2009. The study showed that patients were able to safely and effectively self-administer the drug MC-1101 throughout the trial at home. Eighty seven percent (87%) of the elderly patients participating in the trial, ranging in age from 50 to 81 expressed a strong favorable preference for the VersiDoser® device over traditional eyedrop delivery bottles for its ease of use and comfort.

Building On Success

Further inspired by our success with the VersiDoser® Delivery Platform, we continue to innovate drug delivery technologies, devices and packaging to solve emerging challenges in the packaging and delivery of biologics. In 2008, we launched our VRx2™ program for dramatic improvements in powder and reconstituted delivery.

We continue to advance our delivery technologies, while striving towards our ultimate goal to develop a pipeline of patient‐centric drug/device combination products that protect the quality of human life.

Since our inception in 2003 we have pioneered innovations in patient focused drug/device combination products that simplify self-administration, improve patient compliance and reduce waste and cost for the patient and the manufacturer. Led by co-founder and CEO Timothy Sullivan and supported by talented engineers, scientists and business professionals, our technological innovations include advances in:

  • Unit dose container devices for liquids and powders
  • Delivery devices designed to dramatically simplify self administration by the patient
  • Rapid aseptic Fill and Finish manufacturing technology
  • Preservative free unit dose packaging
  • User independent precise, consistent dose delivery

Presently, Mystic Pharmaceuticals is advancing the development and commercialization of two delivery platforms. We have deployed a pilot manufacturing facility to support the production of clinical supplies. Our company has more than a dozen pending/issued patents and we are currently advancing collaboration with pharmaceutical manufacturers, biotech companies and academic research organizations to license the technology and co-develop combination products.

Our Culture Today

We embrace a corporate culture of applied innovation and scientific rigor. We invest in the development of advanced delivery platform technologies that are disruptive to the status quo. We combine our advanced technologies with a pragmatic approach to partnering with pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers to create high performance integrated products positioned to be best-in-class for market leaders.