Bethlehem Pharmaceutical Company Receives Patent for Osteoarthritis Treatment

Levolta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the company a patent for its novel VOLT01 to prevent and treat osteoarthritis.

Formerly known as Voltarra Pharmaceuticals, Levolta’s patent claims methods for treating osteoarthritis by intravenously administering a combination of prednisolone and some of its derivatives.

“The patent is great news for Levolta and, more importantly, covers a method for providing long-term relief to osteoarthritis patients, which is desperately needed due to the ever rising number of people dealing with this illness,” said Levolta CEO Richard P. Becker, Jr. “In clinical trials, not only does prednisolone minimize the incidence of side effects associated with ZA administration, it also provides long-term relief from the OA symptoms. Patients are in strong need of a disease-modifying drug for OA so this is exciting news for the healthcare community.”

The World Health Organization estimates that osteoarthritis will be the leading cause of disability globally by 2020, due to the aging baby boomer generation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that osteoarthritis affects 26.9 million U.S. adults with total healthcare system costs of $21.1 billion.