Wyeth collaboration with BioProgress lapses
Wyeth on over-the-counter applications of its SWOLLO oral dosage
form technology to lapse, reports Phil Taylor.
The UK firm, which specialises in non-animal-derived oral dosage forms based on its XGEL cellulose films, is in the midst of a reorganisation of its business after announcing earlier this year that it need to trim back swelling costs and that its film production unit in the US would not meet its revenue projections and swelling costs.
It unveiled a strategic review document last week that, amongst other things, suggested that the structure of some of the partnerships forged under the leadership of now-departed CEO Graham Hind 'had not been aligned to the development of BioProgress' technology base or of enabling the earliest possible commercialisation of its XGEL solutions'.
Wyeth had been evaluating BioProgress' SWOLLO liquid fill capsule technology for application in the production of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs under a licensing option between the two companies signed in June 2004 and was due to be renewed earlier this month.
Dan Farrow, BioProgress' recently-appointed finance director, said that the Wyeth agreement was one of those identified as being on less favourable terms in the review and had no near-term economic benefit, particularly as it placed too much control over the development of the technology into the hands of the US firm.
Wyeth will continue to look at SWOLLO for applications in the OTC industry, which provides the shortest route to market for products based on BioProgress' film technologies, but the UK firm will now be free to partner SWOLLO with other companies. Meanwhile, Wyeth is continuing to evaluate not just SWOLLO but other technologies in the BioProgress' stable.
SWOLLO is a broady applicable technology that is designed to cut the cost and complexity of producing soft capsules compared to current system using gelatine films. It uses a single, compact machine that does away with the lengthy, multi-step manufacturing process required for gelatin soft caps and eliminates most of the capital-intensive infrastructure needed.
BioProgress' share price dipped back slightly on yesterday's announcement, despite the news that the company had also delivered its first encapsulation system for another cellulose film technology, NROBE, to partner FMC Biopolymer.
Farrow noted that this system is now being beta tested at FMC, and work is ongoing to scale the unit up to commercial capacity. The existing agreement between FMC and contract manufacturer Farmasierra also means that companies interested in NROBE can now start studying the applications of the technology to their formulations.
Intended as an alternative to gelatine-based coatings, BioProgress's NROBE is a low cost process that enables tablets to be wrapped in soluble, cellulose-based films that can be modified to meet specific dissolution and stability requirements. They can also be produced in virtually any colour or two-colour combination and pre-printed with brand names.
