Aciont® Awarded Two Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project Grants Totaling $489K

Online, November 4, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Salt Lake City, UT - Aciont Inc. announced today that it has been awarded $488,958 to support two projects under the U.S. Government's Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program. Aciont submitted only the following two applications to the program of which both were funded at the maximum allocation amount:

• "Iontophoretic Treatment for Age-related Macular Degeneration and Diabetic Retinopathy"; and
• "Non-Invasive Treatment for Severe Uveitis and Related Posterior Eye Inflammation Diseases."

"Aciont Inc. is pleased that the U.S. Federal government further recognizes and supports our important ophthalmology projects that intend to develop non-invasive treatments for sight threatening diseases; we intend to use these funds to help accelerate our commercialization plans," said John Higuchi, CEO, Aciont.

The QTDP program was established as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 to provide tax credits or grants to taxpayers with no more than 250 employees in an amount equal to 50% of eligible 2009 and 2010 expenses related to a qualifying therapeutic discovery project. To be eligible for the program, projects must show reasonable potential to do the following: result in new therapies to treat areas of unmet medical need; prevent, detect, or treat chronic or acute disease and conditions; reduce long-term health care costs; or significantly advance the goal of curing cancer within a 30-year period. Projects were selected jointly by the Treasury Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.