About Us

Vascarta™, based in Summit, NJ, is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on improving the effectiveness of existing medicines. It was founded by two local entrepreneurs, Richard Prince, PhD, of Short Hills and Joel Friedman, MD/PhD, of West Orange. Richard is president and CEO and started the company after a long and successful career in starting and operating life science companies. Joel is a professor at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in Bronx, New York. The impetus for the company was the realization that some medicines are limited by how they’re administered – pills that don’t reach high enough levels in the body or injections that are painful or inconvenient. The company is built around Vasporta™, a transdermal gel that gets drugs directly into the blood after being applied on the skin. It is easier to take than large pills and more patient friendly than injections. When applied to the skin, it facilitates the drug entering the bloodstream directly and then being transported throughout the body including the brain without being broken down in the gut or the liver as occurs with oral delivery. As a result therapeutic efficacy can be rapidly achieved. Vasporta™ holds the promise of ferrying numerous proven medications across the skin into the circulation and thereby enhance their efficacy and useability. Their first product will be Vasceptor® which is the Vasporta™ transdermal gel containing curcumin, a well-known anti-inflammatory.

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