Mipharmaceuticals (MP) is a biology-based product-driven biopharmaceutical company that makes a class of therapeutics that selectively target enzymes within the Protein Kinase C (PKC) family.  MP has leveraged this broad PKC platform to rapidly advance product candidates into human clinical trials with an initial clinical focus on therapies for acute cardiovascular disease and pain.  Each compound in MP’s pipeline represents a novel treatment approach in its therapeutic area, utilising first-in-class technology to target well validated disease mechanisms.  The company's lead product, MP-9703, is designed to reduce injury associated with ischemia and reperfusion in the settings of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke, renal transplant and other ischemic conditions.  In a phase 2 clinical study in patients undergoing balloon angioplasty for the treatment of AMI, patients receiving MP-9703 experienced less damage to the heart muscle compared to patients receiving a placebo.  MP-9703 has been granted Fast Track designation due to the significant unmet medical need for this indication.  MP-1457, the company's development candidate for cytoprotection, completed a phase 1 trial in 2007, and MP-1578, the company's development candidate for inflammatory and neuropathic pain, completed a phase 1 clinical trial in October of 2008.