PDG, launched by Atacama in 2007, is an particle granulation method designed for use with moisture and heat sensitive active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) that are difficult to process with wet granulation or roller compaction techniques.
Under the new collaboration German CMO Excella, which provides development, clinical supply and commercial manufacturing services for cytotoxics and high potency APIs, will offer PDG to its customers.
Michael Tschope general manager of Excella’s pharmaceutical business described the PDG technology as “revolutionary in the sense that it offers significant advantages in terms of API treatability, development speed and costs.”
Lifecycle boost
Recently appointed Atacama CEO Steffen Mittwich also stressed the benefits of the PDG technology, explaining that it can be used to process “almost any API into higher drug load tablets with good hardness and dissolution profiles.”
He added that such modifications can have a significant impact on a drugmakers revenue stream, explaining that they can be used to “extend the life cycle of expiring drugs, which can mean several more years of protected sales of a blockbuster drug.”
The deal with Excella follows just months after Atacama raised €2.3m through a private placement to further the development of the PDG technology.
Speaking at the time Mittwich said that the investment “enables Atacama Labs to move from the R&D phase into the commercial phase, and to launch the … PDG Technology for the traditional drug manufacturing field."