Grace licenses Formac's bioavailability enhancement tech
The deal – financial terms of which were not provided – covers patent and know how related to Formac’s mesoporous silica-based technology, which is designed to enhance the oral bioavailability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
Manoj Koranne, Global Director of R&D at Grace, told us “Grace will be Formac’s exclusive commercialization partner and will handle all lead generation, evaluation of the technology, and commercialization activities with pharmaceutical customers around the world.”
Grace has been manufacturing mesoporous silica for Formac since 2011, when the firms teamed up to commercialize the platform.
A year later, Grace released data from a first-in-man study showing the technology can be used to enhance bioavailability.
The study showed that a reformulated version of Abbott Laboratories’ cholesterol lowering drug Lipanthyl (fenofibrate) was 54% more bioavailable than the commercial version of the product.
As yet no commercially available products use the technology - sold as Silsol - however, several companies are testing it according to Koranne.
"While we cannot disclose any specific details due to confidentiality reasons, we can confirm that several major drug companies and CDMOs are in various stages of evaluation or commercialization of Grace’s Silsol drug delivery technology."
