Columbia Laboratories will adopt Juniper Pharmaceuticals as its new corporate brand. The name change will become effective April 10, 2015, and the company’s common stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol — “JNP” — on April 13, 2015. The company will also unveil its new logo and launch its new website, www.juniperpharma.com, on April 13, 2015.

“Adopting the Juniper Pharmaceuticals brand marks the next step in the company’s return to developing specialty products in women’s health. We are committed to anticipating and addressing unmet medical needs and developing important therapeutics for patients,” said Frank Condella, president and chief executive officer.

The company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Molecular Profiles Ltd. based in Nottingham, England, will also begin operating as Juniper Pharma Services on April 13.

“The single Juniper brand formalizes the synergies we have built across our CRINONE franchise, services business and proprietary product development programs,” added Mr. Condella.

As planned, in March the company filed an investigational new drug application for its lead product candidate, COL-1077, a 10% lidocaine bioadhesive gel. The company expects the first patient will enter a Phase II clinical trial later this quarter. The trial is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled study that will enroll 150 patients at fifteen U.S. sites that intends to evaluate the efficacy of COL-1077 for use as an acute anesthetic for women undergoing transvaginal pipelle-directed endometrial biopsy.

The company recently announced the licensure of worldwide exclusive rights to a novel intra-vaginal ring (IVR) technology that enables the delivery of one or more pharmaceuticals at different dosages and release rates in a single segmented ring. This patient administered device will be utilized as a key drug delivery platform for the company’s emerging proprietary product pipeline. The IVR technology was developed by renowned scientists Dr. Robert Langer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dr. William Crowley from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Drs. Langer and Crowley have joined the company as strategic scientific advisors to guide R&D initiatives and drug development strategy.