Carus Animal Health and Intract Pharma Limited (“Intract”) have entered into an agreement to develop Intract’s novel drug delivery technologies for application in the veterinary market for treatment of companion animals.

 

Intract, a UK company specialising in development of oral drug formulations, has developed unique models and proprietary drug delivery technologies to develop advanced new products with optimal therapeutic effectiveness. It is now working in a program with Carus to develop a novel formulation with optimised drug release characteristics. Details of the drug products under development have not been disclosed.

 

In addition to Intract’s advanced drug delivery systems, Intract offers in depth understanding and know-how relating to all aspects of oral drug delivery, and offers in vitro and ex vivo models which utilise biological fluids and tissue samples from relevant animal species to provide unparalleled insights into drug stability, solubility and permeability throughout the highly variable intestinal environment.

 

Using the data from these studies, Intract can develop optimal, state-of-the-art drug delivery systems to target and control drug release in the ideal region of the gut. In the collaboration with Carus, these novel formulations are now being used bring innovation and commercially superior drug products to the veterinary market.

 

Jolian Howell, commercial director at Carus Animal Health, said: “We are excited about the prospect of developing technologies created to benefit human health to offer unique benefits to animal health in terms of oral administration through a range of controlled release technologies.”

 

Bill Lindsay, CEO of Intract Pharma said “Intract is delighted to be working with Carus, an established international player in the field of veterinary medicine, to develop novel products to benefit animal health”.

 

 

 

Notes to Editors:

 

Carus Animal Health is based in the UK and was established in 2017. Its parent company, Kyoritsu Seiyaku, is the biggest animal health company in Japan and ranked number 11 in global markets.

Intract Pharma is a licensing and product development company offering state of the art formulation technologies and specialist gastrointestinal models to develop advanced new therapeutics. These have been successfully developed for multiple therapies in human health.

Intract is a spin-out from the UCL School of Pharmacy based on more than 20 years of research from the laboratory of Prof. Abdul Basit.

 

For further information contact:

Jolian Howell
Commercial Director
Carus Animal Health
+44 (0)7921 516 286
[email protected]

Mike Keeler
Garnett Keeler PR
+44 (0)20 8647 4467
[email protected]

CAH/005/19

5th April 2019, London, UK and Tokyo, Japan: Intract Pharma Ltd (“Intract”) and Neopharma Japan Co. Ltd (“NPJ”), have announced entry into a collaboration to develop a novel therapeutic product for treatment of gastrointestinal diseases using Intract’s proprietary drug delivery technologies. Intract is a leader in oral drug delivery, building on over 20 years of research and an in-depth understanding of gastrointestinal physiology for optimal drug product development. NPJ, a subsidiary of Neopharma UAE, is a global center of excellence for research and development of innovative medicines and healthcare products.

Under the terms of the collaboration, details of which have not been made public, Intract will provide NPJ access to its proprietary drug formulation platforms for creation of improved medical products. The programme will be advanced rapidly to the clinic through use of Intract’s will specialist pre-clinical gastrointestinal models.

Commenting on the collaboration, Bill Lindsay, Intract’s CEO said “Intract is delighted to enter this very exciting collaboration with NPJ. Intract is driven to see its technologies and expertise result in benefit to patients through such innovative projects.”

“We are very excited to bring our promising compound to the patients suffering from gastrointestinal diseases through the collaboration with Intract”, said Satofumi Kawata, NPJ’s Representative Director.

Details of the drug compound and financial terms were not disclosed.

 

About Intract: Intract Pharma Ltd offers access to unique know-how and technologies for optimized oral delivery of drugs. Intract’s GI models allow development of detailed knowledge of drug solubility, stability and uptake, to enable optimal bespoke drug formulations with improved bioavailability and efficacy. For more information, visit www.intractpharma.com

About Neopharma: Neopharma LLC UAE is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the MENA region with presence in over 50 countries. Neopharma is an integrated pharmaceutical company currently having manufacturing operations in Japan, India, Brazil and UAE, primarily focusing on novel therapeutics and debilitating diseases at affordable prices. For more information, visit www.neopharma.com

###

London, England, 27th March 2019.

Intract Pharma has announced the launch of a first product incorporating its colon targeting technology, Phloral®. The product, called Yaldigo®/Asacol 1600 which has been created and is marketed by Tillotts Pharma AG, Switzerland, is a novel therapeutic for treatment of ulcerative colitis which incorporates Phloral® to facilitate targeting of the drug product to the site of disease in the colon.

Phloral® utilises a unique dual-trigger mechanism to ensure accurate release of the drug in the colon, irrespective of gastrointestinal transit time and pH. The unique Phloral ® mechanism, in which drug release is achieved through the actions of enzymes specifically produced by the colonic microbiome is available exclusively through Intract Pharma.

The Phloral® technology has been licensed to Tillotts Pharma AG for use with mesalazine and is available for licence from Intract for other drugs.

Commenting, Bill Lindsay, CEO of Intract said “Launch of the Tillotts Product is a landmark for Intract Pharma and provides further validation of our Phloral technology as the only clinically proven means to reliably and consistently target the colon”

Intract offers the Phloral® technology under licence and is developing Phloral®-based products in-house for out-licensing into clinical development.

For more information please contact us at [email protected] or call +44 (0)20 7691 4918.

09 November 2018, London, UK – Intract Pharma Ltd has successfully been awarded funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to develop a scalable manufacturing process for novel oral antibody products using its proprietary Soteria® technology. The collaborative industrial research project, totalling over £1.4 million, was secured through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund for innovative projects in medicines manufacturing. This program will be conducted by a consortium led by Intract, including the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), Pharmidex and Quay Pharma.

Each member of the consortium brings unique expertise in drug development and manufacture, with an extensive understanding of pharmaceutical formulation. The project seeks to develop a manufacturing process for Intract’s revolutionary Soteria® technology which can be scaled in a commercially viable manner. Soteria® transforms painful and inconvenient injectable therapies into safe, simple oral formulations, and allows targeting and concentration of the antibody at the site of disease in the gut to improve therapeutic efficacy whilst minimising risk of systemic toxicity.

Intract’s CEO, Bill Lindsay, highlighted that the funding will provide a significant boost to both internal and external development programmes using the technology. “Intract has invested significant resource in developing Soteria® at laboratory scale – Innovate UK funding is critical at this point to resolve the issues involved in large-scale GMP manufacture of biologic drugs.”

Dr Graeme Cruickshank, CPI Director of Formulation, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Intract’s work on developing a manufacturing process for antibody products, which has great potential to improve patients’ treatment. Our position within the consortium also allows us to demonstrate the breadth of capabilities we have here at CPI and how we have been able to bring them to bear to offer our support.”

Dr Christopher Ireson, Pharmidex Head of Oncology, said: “Pharmidex is delighted to be part of this opportunity to support the development of orally delivered therapeutics to the patient.”

Dr. Alison Foster, Technical Manager at Quay Pharmaceuticals, said “Quay is very pleased to be part of this exciting opportunity using Intract’s proprietary technology together with Quay’s expertise to ensure that the formulation developed at CPI and the process is scalable and commercially viable.”

About Intract Pharma

Intract Pharma is an oral drug delivery specialist, developing state-of-the-art formulation technologies and unique gastrointestinal models to develop advanced new therapeutics. Since its inception, Intract has pursued innovation in oral drug delivery as a means to improve on current therapies, making them safer and more effective for patients. Soteria® is available for license exclusively from Intract Pharma. For more information visit www.intractpharma.com

About CPI

The Centre for Process Innovation is a UK-based technology innovation centre and part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. The company uses applied knowledge in science and engineering combined with state-of-the-art development facilities to enable its clients to develop, prove, prototype and scale up the next generation of products and processes. Its open innovation model enables clients to develop products and prove processes with minimal risk. CPI provides assets and expertise, so customers can demonstrate processes before investing substantial amounts of money in capital equipment and training. New products and processes can be shown to be feasible; on paper, in the lab and in the plant before being manufactured at an industrial scale. By utilising its proven assets and expertise, companies can take their products and processes to market faster. There is no down time in production as all of the process development is completed offsite and CPI’s technology transfer and engineering teams can help companies transfer the product or process into full-scale production at speed.

About Pharmidex

Pharmidex provides translational solutions using its world-renowned expertise in CNS/Oncology, drug discovery and ADMET/PK.  Founded in the UK in 2002, Pharmidex operates in state-of-the-art facilities in London and Hatfield to provide high quality bespoke experimental data to support drug discovery & development.

About Quay Pharma

Quay Pharmaceuticals is experienced in providing a comprehensive out-sourcing service for formulation and analytical development with subsequent clinical trials manufacturing for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. Working as a dedicated, pro-active part of your team we apply strong project management and technical expertise to take products quickly and cost effectively from late stage pre-clinical through to the end of phase II clinical trials. Quay Pharmaceuticals has built a reputation for specialising in the formulation of APIs that exhibit poor solubility and bio-availability and those which require modified or controlled release.

About Innovate UK

Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas. We connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and business growth. We fund business and research collaborations to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into R&D. Our support is available to businesses across all economic sectors, value chains and UK regions. Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation. For more information visit www.innovateuk.ukri.org

 

 

London, 23rd November 2018

Intract Pharma Limited is pleased to announce receipt of an award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund investigation of Intract’s Soteria® technology as a means to stabilise orally-administered therapeutic antibodies.

GI diseases caused by pathogens such as Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) and Campylobacter are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in infants in the developing world, with ETEC alone responsible for an estimated 400 million cases of diarrhoea and 157,000 deaths/year.

Intract’s Soteria technology is a unique formulation which stabilises bio-therapeutic drugs within the GI tract, allowing the possibility for creation of oral formulations of complex biologic molecules which normally can only be administered by injection. Soteria will be utilised in the Gates Foundation-funded project to enhance the therapeutic effect of antibodies which specifically target the disease-causing bacteria without damaging the natural healthy microbiome.

Bill Lindsay, CEO of Intract said “Intract is extremely pleased to be working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on this exciting and important project. We believe that our technology and expertise in understanding the behaviour of drugs in the GI tract will maximise the chances of development of a unique, life-saving therapy”

 

About Intract Pharma

Intract Pharma is an oral drug delivery specialist, developing state-of-the-art formulation technologies and unique gastrointestinal models to develop advanced new therapeutics. Since its inception, Intract has pursued innovation in oral drug delivery as a means to improve on current therapies, making them safer and more effective for patients. Soteria® is available for license exclusively from Intract Pharma. For more information visit www.intractpharma.com

Intract Pharma will be speaking at the 10th Global DDF Summit in Berlin between 11th and 13th March 2019. The event – held annually since 2009 – will be hosted at the Maritim proArte Hotel in Berlin, and features both industrial and academic delegates, includes a broad range of presentations, workshops and panel sessions.

Our session: Soteria®: Revolutionizing Oral Delivery of Antibodies will be presented by Vipul Yadav, PhD, Director of Product Development at Intract Pharma. The presentation touches on the challenges of delivering biologics orally – including monoclonal antibodies – and how Intract has developed Soteria® to overcome these difficulties.

If you would like to attend this session you can book here or contact us at [email protected] for more information.

Intract Pharma will be speaking at this year’s Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics Conference in Sand Diego, CA. The event – held annually – will be hosted at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel, and features both industrial and academic delegates, includes a broad range of presentations, workshops and panel sessions.

 

Our session: Soteria®: Revolutionizing Oral Delivery of Antibodies will be presented by Vipul Yadav, PhD, Director of Product Development at Intract Pharma. The presentation touches on the challenges of delivering biologics orally – including monoclonal antibodies – and how Intract has developed Soteria® to overcome these difficulties.

 

If you would like to attend this session you can book here or contact us at [email protected] for more information.

 

###

Intract Pharma’s Soteria® technology was recently profiled on Europe’s leading biotech news website, Labiotech.eu. The article comments on the potential benefit of the Soteria® technology, highlighting that oral versions of existing antibody therapies “could make the treatments easier for patients and increase compliance.” Also discussed is the £1.4m grant awarded to Intract by Innovate UK to develop a scalable manufacturing process for an oral antibody product using Soteria®.

With over 100,000 monthly visitors to the website, Labiotech.eu covers the medical, industrial and food biotech sectors over a range of different platforms.

You can find the article here:

https://labiotech.eu/medical/intract-pharma-oral-immunotherapy/

You can also find Intract on Labiotech’s map of European Biotech companies here:

https://labiotech.eu/map/

 

An independent review published by Pharmaceutical Technology has listed Intract Pharma’s Phloral® technology among top 4 approaches to oral drug delivery which offer more patient-centric drug delivery for improved patient outcomes.

The review recognizes that the radical improvement in targeting of medications to the colon achieved by Phloral® offers direct benefit to patients by ensuring that medicines consistently reach the appropriate site of action irrespective of gastrointestinal pH variation or transit times as may be exhibited in patients with gastrointestinal illness.

The review discusses three additional earlier-stage technologies from both commercial companies and academia and which are set to revolutionize drug delivery in their fields.

 

Click here to read the article.

 

Article

  1. Siew, “Emerging Technologies Advance Oral Drug Delivery,” Pharmaceutical Technology42 (6) 18–20 (2018).