DPT highlights R&D prowess at AAPS 2008
The study, which was carried out by Vitthal Kulkarni and his team at DPT’s facility in Lakewood, New Jersey, looked at the differing impacts of polysorbate 80, sodium lauryl sulphate, diethyleneglycol monoethyl ether and PEG 400 among others on spray characteristics.
The research showed that, in general, the addition of excipients to drug formulations increased viscosity and reduced surface tension compared with nasal sprays to which water had been added. Further details of the research are available here.
While the work provides invaluable information for drug firms targeting the nasal mucosa as a delivery route, its wider significance is as a demonstration as DPT’s transformation into a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), a business model that is uncommon in the contracting sector.
DPT’s pioneering role in this area was recently recognized by Frost & Sullivan, which awarded the company its Best Practices gong for 2008. F&S analyst Barath Subramanian said that: “DPT has a unique set of service lines and an exceptional marketing and positioning strategy,” adding that the firm had demonstrated excellent performance in innovation, customer service and product development.
in-PharmaTechnologist spoke with DPT’s vice president of marketing and project management, Marc Iacobucci, at this year’s meeting of the American Academy of Pharmaceutical Scientists (APPS). He said that the F&S award marked the firm’s maturation as a development organisation. Iacobucci’s full response can be accessed here.
These thoughts were echoed by DPT COO Paul Johnson who explained that: “As pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies scale back the number of service providers they work with, we have been able to showcase our ability to take a product from preformulation all the way through FDA approval.”
