Catalent calls for greater academic and industry collaboration on delivery tech
Cingulate Therapeutics’ two preclinical candidates, CTX-1301 and CTX-1302 for the treatment of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), will be formulated at Catalent Pharma Solutions’ Somerset, New Jersey facility using the firm’s OSDrC OptiDose drug delivery platform according to a deal penned last week.
According to Catalent’s European Marketing Manager Chris Halling, Optidose is a tableting technology that enables the formulation and manufacturing of single or multi-cored tablets with differentiated controlled release functionality and a range of dose forms.
For drugmakers, there are many controlled release technologies available, he told in-Pharmatechnologist.com, ranging from fast dissolve technologies - used to overcome issues of compliance or to enhance pharmacokinetics through pre-gastric absorption – to enteric coatings on softgels that delay the release of the active substance within the gastro-intestinal tract.
“It goes almost without saying that medicines need to be safe and effective, and clearly the adoption of controlled and modified release technologies can help in many ways,” he explained, “for example by making a potent API tolerable through extending its release profile or delaying the release of an active substance until the pill reaches the ideal point in the gastro-intestinal tract.”
However, industry has not yet fully adopted advanced drug delivery platforms which is holding development back, Halling said, and the firm has therefore set-up its Catalent Applied Drug Delivery Institute in order to “bring together industry and academia to share knowledge” regarding such technologies.
“Because of the development and approval times associated with drugs, together with the propensity for companies to work in relatively few treatment areas or specialise in a limited number of routes of administration, [we are] increasingly aware that formulators may prefer to stay within their own sphere of experience and will sometimes not consider drug delivery technologies that would ultimately improve the efficacy of their medication.”
