BioProgress completes NRobe restructuring
solid oral dose system, following completion of a restructuring
agreement with Magenta Oral Dose Design.
Following plans outlined in November last year, BioProgress and Magenta, a business unit of FMC Corporation, have finalised changes to their existing agreement so as to "more accurately…reflect the intended market strategy for the NRobe technology and to accelerate its commercialisation."
FMC is currently the exclusive worldwide licensee of the NRobe technology, an oral drug delivery technology presented as a 'modern alternative' to film-coated and gel-dipped tablets.
Using the NRobe system, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and excipients are lightly compressed, enveloped between two films and then sealed to produce a compacted, coated dosage form.
The technology removes the need to include the usual quantities or number of tabletting excipients, which can result in a reduction of the dispensing and mixing operations required, cut formulation cost, and also potentially result in a smaller final dosage form, according to BioProgress.
The restructuring agreement confirmed today is intended to facilitate the launch of the NRobe technology with major pharmaceutical companies on a development and milestone basis, specifically for combination drug therapies, large molecules and other difficult forms of oral dosing.
According to BioProgress, the drug delivery system market has a predicted annual growth of seven to nine per cent, reaching $135bn (€103bn) by 2010 with oral delivery representing 25% of the market.
While no one from the company was available for comment on potential income generated through the agreement, the revised contract states that BioProgress will receive enhanced royalties based on the total income generated by NRobe. FMC remains responsible for the continuing development, commercialisation and promotion of the novel drug delivery system.
Under separate agreements, the two companies will also collaborate to endorse the NRobe technology in some pharmaceutical products to be licensed for sale through Dexo, BioProgress' sales and marketing division.
