Aequus Pharmaceuticals, a Vancouver-based firm that specializes in transdermal reformulations of existing and approved drugs, has raised C $1.2 million in equity funding to develop a transdermal version of the drug in popular anti-psychotic Abilify.

Aequus announced the equity funding, raised from private investors in Canada and the United States, along with announcing an exclusive licensing deal for the transdermal application of aripiprazole, the active ingredient in Abilify. Human proof-of-concept studies should begin in the coming months, and the company will also begin filing new intellectual property on additional projects, Aequus CEO Doug Janzen said in a statement.

According to the firm, a transdermal version of the drug would solve existing problems in convenience, side-effects and compliance in many widely-used oral and injectable psychiatric and CNS medications. A transdermal version would the potential to provide a well-tolerated long-acting alternative. Furthermore, a transdermal vehicle has the benefit of reversibility compared to long acting injectables, which when given, adverse effects cannot be reversed.