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AvMax, Inc. is a young, privately-held pharmaceutical company working in the area of drug delivery. The company was founded in 1993 by Dr. Leslie Z. Benet, Professor and former Chairman of the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. In addition to being a professor at UCSF and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Benet has established a stellar reputation within the pharmaceutical industry. AvMax is focused on improving the oral delivery of pharmaceuticals by modifying the way in which they are metabolized and transported in the intestine. Dr. Benet, AvMax scientists and collaborators have discovered that intestinal metabolism by cytochrome P450 enzymes and active efflux of absorbed drugs by P-glycoprotein and other drug transporters are major determinants of poor oral bioavailability and high inter- and intra-patient drug variability. Inhibition of intestinal metabolism and active efflux is a novel mechanism to make drug administration more therapeutically effective, safer and, potentially transform intravenous drugs into oral drugs. AvMax has initially chosen to focus its search for inhibitors of intestinal metabolism and transport among substances which are deemed "generally recognized as safe", or GRAS, by the FDA. These are substances such as essential oils and flavoring agents, which were grandfathered into use by the FDA in 1958. GRAS substances can be incorporated into drug formulations with minimal additional toxicologic testing which speeds regulatory approval. In early 1997, AvMax was issued a broad patent covering the use of essential oils to increase the oral bioavailability of pharmaceutical compositions. In addition, the company has exclusive licensing agreements with the University of California for patents related to Dr. Benet's discoveries on oral bioavailability. AvMax, Inc. has established R&D collaborations with several major pharmaceutical corporations in an attempt to improve one or more drugs from each company. In addition, AvMax is independently pursuing the development of an oral formulation of paclitaxel, the active ingredient in Taxol, Bristol-Myers Squibb's billion dollar anti-cancer drug. Paclitaxel itself is not orally bioavailable, yet has achieved record sales in spite of an arduous intravenous infusion schedule. AvMax believes it has identified a promising modifier of paclitaxel bioavailability and is currently conducting preclinical testing of an oral formulation.