The paper, titled 'Improved Localised Lung Delivery Using Smart Combination Respiratory Medicines', hails the benefits of existing combination therapies, which uses two or more APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients) to tackle both the symptom and disease progression for sufferers of respiratory conditions.
However, the researchers say that harmonious delivery of several APIs has not yet been achieved because the methods used to join them – most commonly by mixing the powder formulations – are not strong enough. As a result particles often separate in vitro and hence disperse at their own rates.
But by ditching the combining excipient and combining those APIs in an excipient-free drug-only particle known as Multi-component particles (MCPs), Prosonix says it has achieved a more harmonious delivery of the compounds. The team, led by senior scientist Dipesh Parikh, also believes the discovery will mean reduced dosing.
"Current suspension based pMDI DPI combination therapies can have a high degree of variability," CEO David Hipkiss told in-PharmaTechnologist.
"This is because they consist of a random physical blend of the 2 drugs and excipients.This means that the drugs are not properly co-associated in the formulation and do not co-deposit at the cellular site of action in the lung. It is believed that co-location is the key to enhanced synergistic pharmaceutical activity."
The team are now working on a process scale-up project for the tech.
A revolution?
The firm believes its discovery could shape the way industry looks at all combination products in the future.
Hipkiss told us: "We believe this could transform the way that all combination products are made enabling the combination products of tomorrow and provide some very interesting life cycle management opportunities for those products currently on the market or near to market.
"The ability to use low cost simple devices is also key as reimbursement price pressures will become an increasingly important factor when considering prescribing."
Transition
In 2010, Hipkiss told in-Pharmatechnologist.com the respiratory biz was a potential goldmine for firms such as Prosonix, and the company’s pursuit of transitioning from its traditional role as a particle processor, to create its own portfolio of respiratory medicines has been on ever since.
News of the new development follows reports this week, that the fruits of the firm’s latest fundraising efforts totalled £17.1m ($26.98m) following last-minute £5.7m boost from European technology investor Gimv.
Hipkiss now says: “These new funds will enable Prosonix to accelerate its activities aimed at attaining key performance and clinical data for our pipeline of excipient-free, drug-only respiratory medicines.”
Karl Nägler, Venture Capital Partner at Gimv, and new board member for Prosonix added: “Based on the demonstrated performance of its particle engineering platform and approach, the near-term product opportunities in its pipeline, its highly experienced team and a strong and experienced group of investors, we are confident that Prosonix can become a significant player in the area of respiratory medicines.”