BioProgress of the UK has signed a formal contract with Germany's Harro Hoefliger to make the latter the exclusive builder, supplier and service and warranty provider for all BioProgress' non-gelatine encapsulation machines.
The deal follows a letter of intent announced by the two companies in September. Under the terms of the deal, BioProgress will receive revenues from machine sales and a royalty on all revenues generated by its German partner from service contracts.
The deal comes at a fertile time for BioProgress, which sold the first pilot versions of its NROBE and TABWRAP machines earlier this year and has also signed a letter of intent with FMC Biopolymer for the sale of its NROBE technology. All the firm's encapsulation technologies are based on cellulose films.
TABWRAP is, as its name suggests, used in the coating of tablets and has the advantage over gelatine that it can be produced in more than one colour. It also extends shelf life and can be manipulated to modify the release of active drug from the tablet.
NROBE is a powdered drug delivery dosage form, while SWALLOW is used for liquid filled capsules and SEPTUM is a dosage form which enables the encapsulation of two non-compatible active ingredients in the same shell, delivering each at a different time or site in the body. All these technologies are covered under the Harro Hoefliger contract.
Harro Hoefliger spokesman Alan Holmes said: "Since we signed the letter of intent the production teams at Harro Hoefliger and BioProgress have been working closely together to agree detailed project plans, machine specifications, costs and delivery timeframes."
Meantime, Graham Hind, BioProgress' chief executive, noted that the German partner will allow the machines to be distributed on an international scale. Harro Hoefliger's customers include 90 per cent of the leading pharmaceutical companies.