The centre is set to open at the end of 2014 in Nottingham, UK and will offer the CDMO’s clients formulation development, clinical scale manufacturing and analytical capabilities for inhalation drugs, using spray drying, powder filling and dry powder technologies.
The “Centre will expand and build on the already well-established inhalation expertise at Aesica,” Jonathan Faulkes, Business Development Manager at Aesica Formulation Development, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
It will deal with a growth of demand for inhalation products, he continued, from “generics, small life science companies, university groups and large pharmaceutical companies,” as they look for “cost-effective delivery of a proof-of-concept clinical trial supplies through to commercial material for their new chemical entity (NCE) or generic / re-purposed product.”
Furthermore, demand is “not all for asthma / chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),” he said, as Aesica is “seeing an increase in medications for other disease areas.”
As for services offered, he added: “Aesica offers a ‘device neutral’ solution; we do not have our own device and therefore we are happy to work with our clients on device technology / unique platforms.”
Growing Brick by BRIC
Faulkes told us Aesica is interested in exploring global opportunities with the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries becoming increasingly important for its clients’ inhalation - as weel as general - business.
“This is driven by both economic and environmental factors,” he said. “Incidences of COPD are increasingly being linked to smoking and poor air quality.”
Whilst Western countries have begun reducing these factors through clean air initiatives and anti-smoking campaigns, the populations in BRIC nations are becoming wealthier and picking up these vices.
“One could therefore reasonably expect that incidences of COPD will continue to increase in these countries,” he said.
“To meet this expanding market, pharmaceutical companies need to re-examine their product and device portfolios. Low cost, high efficiency devices will be required for these markets as their governments will no doubt keep a keen eye on health care expenditure.”