The UK consultancy group told Outsourcing-pharma that while the primary use of nanoformulation has been for generics where development risk is low, the need to create new more effective drugs and technology innovations are changing the market.
“As more nanotechnologies are being developed and the regulatory pathway begins to clear, BNC has seen an increased interest in what nanotech can do to help solve more problems,” he explained, citing the firm’s new reformulation deal with the University of London’s school of pharmacy as evidence.
“The current product is delivered via the IV route, but initial results have shown that we can solubilise this very hydrophobic drug and protect a labile moiety from gastric degradation to make it orally deliverable.
US tour
With this in mind BNC has, this week, embarked on a promotional tour of the US to showcase its service level agreement (SLA) consultancy model to the country’s drug industry.
BNC’s approach, the spokesman explained is to help drug firms that want to access innovative nanotechnology IP help in Universities bypass the contract negotiations that can hinder such collaborations by taking on project management responsibility.
He added that: “As the contract is between the client and BNC, not the University, we carry the delivery risk,” which is likely to be welcomed by a pharmaceutical industry keen to reduce unnecessary expenditure.