The deal – financial terms of which were not disclosed – will see Ferring help Alrise test the feasibility of manufacturing injectable drugs that incorporate its ImSus controlled-release technology on a commercial scale.
A Ferring spokeswoman told us "The scope also includes the scale-up of the process to clinical and or commercial scale" adding that "the non-GMP development work is primarily carried out at the Alrise facilities in Berlin. The site of GMP scale up manufacturing will be reviewed following this."
She added that: "The current deal does not include a license to apply ImSus to other Ferring compounds. However, if successful, it is envisaged that Alrise and Ferring will extend the collaboration to other products in the Ferring portfolio."
The agreement comes months after Switzerland-based Ferring licensed Enteris BioPharma’s Peptelligence engineering platform for the development of oral formulations of small molecule products.
Like the Alrise technology the Peptelligence platform is based on encapsulation active pharmaceutical ingredients (API).
The Enteris system uses two excipients - a permeation enhancer to aid gut absorption and solubilize the active, and a biochemical transporter - to form an ingestible formulation.
The Alrise agreement is Ferring’s third delivery technology focused deal in a year. Last Novermber the firm teamed up with Brazil’s Aché Laboratórios Farmacêuticos to look at using nanotechnology to improve the oral bioavailability of poorly soluble drug actives.