Jaguar Health to Initiate Commercial Footprint in Cancer Supportive Care at American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting with Exhibit Booth for FDA-Approved Gelclair Oral Mucositis Product

Oral mucositis, also called "chemo mouth," has emerged as the most significant adverse event in oncology according to a National Comprehensive Cancer Network task force

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 23, 2024 / Jaguar Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAGX) ("Jaguar") today announced that it is initiating the company's commercial footprint in its core focus area of cancer supportive care at the May 31 - June 4 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting with a Napo Pharmaceuticals (Napo) exhibit booth for Gelclair, the FDA-approved oral mucositis prescription product Jaguar in-licensed last month for the U.S. market. Napo is a Jaguar family company. Jaguar plans to begin the commercial launch in Q3 2024 for Gelclair.

"Oral mucositis is among the most common, painful, and debilitating cancer treatment-related side effects. Gelclair is a protective gel with a mechanical action indicated for the management of pain and relief of pain by adhering to the mucosal surface of the mouth, soothing oral lesions of various etiologies, including oral mucositis/stomatitis. Unlike other products for oral mucositis, it is not a numbing agent and does not sting the mouth," said Lisa Conte, Jaguar's president and CEO.

Oral mucositis, also called "chemo mouth," has emerged as the most significant adverse event in oncology according to a National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) task force.¹ Up to 40% of all patients treated with chemotherapy develop oral mucositis, and this percentage rises to approximately 90% for patients with head and neck cancers treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Of the latter, 19% may end up being hospitalized, experiencing a delay in antineoplastic treatment for high-grade mucositis management, resulting in a reduction of the quality of life, a worse prognosis, and an increase in patient management costs.²

Foto: Accesswire

Oral mucositis can negatively affect diet, nutrition, oral hygiene, as well as quality of life.³ Its adverse physical, social and psychological impacts on patients are manifest and include the need for total parenteral nutrition, higher risk of systemic infections, increased use of antifungals and opioid analgesics, increased hospitalizations with longer hospital stays, social isolation and depression due to the inability to talk and eat, subsequent dose reductions, treatment interruptions and discontinuations, and as a corollary to dose reductions and treatment interruptions/discontinuations, diminished anti-tumor responses and shorter survival.¹