Sagentia selected as lead development partner for Chrono Therapeutics’ wearable ‘smart’ smoking cessation device

Chrono Therapeutics is a California-based pharmaceutical company with a vision of transforming disease and addiction management to become the market leader in programmable passive transdermal drug delivery (TDD) that offers real-time behavioral support. This past summer, Chrono secured $34M in Series A financing to complete product development and clinical studies for its flagship product SmartStop™, a new and revolutionary wearable device, which offers programmable, transdermal nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in combination with real-time digital behavioral support that promotes compliance. 

To date, many products on the market which aim to help people stop smoking exhibit low rates of success. For example, standard nicotine patches deliver a steady stream of nicotine throughout the day, while nicotine gum delivers spikes of nicotine, but often the doses are too low or compliance is poor resulting in relatively low efficacy in helping smokers to quit. SmartStop™ offers a novel solution. It is designed to be worn 24 hours a day and to automatically coincide the dose of nicotine that it delivers with the cigarette craving patterns that have been identified in smokers. The device then uses Bluetooth technology to wirelessly communicate with the SmartStop™ digital support program, providing real-time guidance to help smokers cope with cravings and quit for good. 

Sagentia was selected as the lead development partner to help Chrono Therapeutics bring the technology to market. Sagentia’s involvement began with concept generation and early feasibility testing to ensure that the product is small enough to wear comfortably and can be manufactured at the right price point. The Sagentia team is now continuing through the full design, miniaturization, and development of the electromechanical microfluidic system, including the durable control unit and the nicotine pump delivery system. Key requirements are that the device be low cost and have a small and light design that is attractive to consumers.

Alan Levy, Ph.D., CEO of Chrono Therapeutics, comments: “Smoking costs people their health and eventually their lives, but current technologies like nicotine gums and patches are not effective in enabling smokers to quit permanently because they do not address the cyclical nature of nicotine cravings and offer little to no behavioral support. We believe we have a very compelling technology that will solve many of the problems that make smoking cessation so difficult and working with Sagentia as a product development partner is allowing us to get this to market faster.”

Dr. Gregory Berman, Head of Drug Delivery at Sagentia, adds: “The SmartStop™ technology has the potential to revolutionize the smoking cessation market and make a big difference to peoples’ lives. The compliance aspect of this device is particularly exciting, providing patients with feedback, support, and encouragement on their progress.”