Molecular Profiles to Formulate Psoriasis Drug in Multi-Firm Project
The UK-based contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) is just one of a number of companies involved in the project, spearheaded by clinical stage Swiss biopharmaceutical firm Telormedix, along with Biopta, Midatech Biogune and the University Hospital Zurich.
“The project duration is 2 years, and the goal of the project is to develop two product formats (topical and oral) containing the Telormedix molecule TMX30X for the treatment of Psoriasis,” Steve Kemp - Molecular Profiles’ VP - told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
“The projects will be to proof of concept in an animal model,” he continued, adding “the funding of the project has come from the European funding agency, Eurostars.
“This entailed Telormedix putting together a consortium of companies, who then provided proposals for the work packages in accordance with the objective set by Telormedix.”
Molecular Profiles will formulate the candidate TMX-302 using Midatech’s glycan-coated gold nanoparticle (GNP) proprietary technology which - according to Midatech - is, due to the size of the GNPs, suited for movement into cells and through the walls of blood vessels whilst fostering elimination through kidney and biliary clearance.
“The TMX-302 molecule exhibits good water-solubility but poor permeability. The purpose of the GNP presentation is to enhance the permeability of the TMX-302 molecule,” Kemp said.
New Facility and Recent Developments
The selection of Molecular Profiles to formulate the drug was due to two things, Kemp told us: “Our facilities, and our expertise in being able to deliver two dose formats from the same company.”
The firm recently completed a new £9m ($13.5m) facility in Nottingham, UK, opening its doors after receiving regulatory approval from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in July.
Furthermore, kemp said: “Our ability to take the molecule through pre-clinical proof of concept into clinical development (Phase IIb) was also a contributing factor - meaning Telormedix would not have to use more than one CDMO to deliver this project.”
The announcement comes a week after we reported Molecular profiles had been acquired by Columbia Laboratories who paid $25m (€18.7m) for the CDMO earlier this month, adding a number of execs to its board.
