Biotage acquires Vapourtec evaporation system rights
which substantially reduces sample-drying time for pharmaceutical
chemists, meeting the need to relieve a major bottleneck in
chemistry and drug development.
Researchers involved in drug metabolism, toxicology, pharmacokinetics and bioanalysis are thought to be among those who would find the most use of Biotage's Vapourtec solvent evaporation system, known as the V-10.
Under the terms of the deal, Biotage has acquired the exclusive distribution, production and further development rights to the V10, which was launched in July 2005.
The agreement also provides for Vapourtec to deliver further developments and line extensions for the product within 2006.
"Vapourtec's V-10 substantially reduces sample drying time for pharmaceutical chemists and fills this void in our product lines," said Jeff Bork, Biotage's CEO.
In addition to operating in batch mode at rates up to 40X faster than conventional evaporators, the Vapourtec product also operates in a continuous flow mode, which offers advantages not possible with alternative designs.
Compounds handled by the V-10 are dried directly into the vial of choice, with effective action with samples as small as 1mg per vial as the V-10 dries many grams per vial. Its compact size includes a built-in pump and condenser.
"Evaporation is a technique employed immediately following synthesis and purification. Vapourtec's V-10 was brought to our attention by some of our largest customers who participated in the product development phase," said Dave Patteson, President of Biotage's Discovery Chemistry Group.
The purchase price for the deal consists of an up-front payment and partial payments related to sales development. The total purchase could reach at maximum £2.3 million ,(€3.3 million).
Commercial activities will begin immediately and sales for 2007 are expected to reach between $5 - 10 million.
One of the most difficult steps in drug discovery is the purification process with the biggest bottleneck remaining in the post-purification process. This involves multiple steps (e.g., transferring fractions, solvent evaporation, purity assessment and weighing) to achieve the final products.
This is a very time-consuming and labour-intensive process, especially for solvent evaporation in LC. Preparative SFC (prepSFC) has started to make a big impact in this process because it only generates volatile non-aqueous fractions with very small volumes.
