Vetter and Microdermics announced that they have entered into a strategic cooperation agreement.
From left to right: Dr. Claus Feussner, Senior Vice President Vetter Development Service; Prof. Boris Stoeber, Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer; Grant Campany, President & CEO (both Microdermics); and Dr. David Brett, Team Leader Product and Service Management at Vetter.
The market in novel alternatives to needle injections is forecasted to grow rapidly, reaching in excess of 480 million units by 2030. Microneedles are a novel technology that can offer promising advantages as an alternative to classical needle injections and other routes of administration, mainly in reducing the injectable dose needed to trigger an immune response and accelerating drug absorption by the body. The roadblocks to commercialization are mainly due to limited investment in scalable aseptic manufacture at the later phases of development. Microdermics microneedle technology is commercially scalable and capable of pain-free injections into the pharmacokinetically beneficial intradermal space, providing improved comfort and treatment to patients. Microdermics has successfully demonstrated the initial safety of its microneedle system, and is planning Phase 1 human clinical trials for vaccine and therapeutic delivery, to be initiated in 2017.
Microdermics has developed a novel commercially scalable, low-cost, customizable, metal, hollow, microneedle platform that provides efficient delivery of vaccines and biologics – addressing the global reliance on the 160-year old hypodermic needle and the economic and health implications associated with widespread needle phobia. The company’s Phase 1 clinical trials to validate the effectiveness and reliability of intradermal delivery are expected to initiate in 2017. Microdermics will focus product development and clinical activities on new delivery methods for existing commercial products, providing innovative methods for partners to differentiate via a novel intradermal delivery system, as well as pursue product life cycle extensions.
“We are very happy to enter into this agreement with Microdermics, and we are excited by the initial experience of cooperation and entrepreneurial spirit we have established with key individuals at this company,” Dr. Claus Feussner, Vetter’s Senior Vice President Development Service said. “We believe that microneedles are a particularly innovative technology and may prove to be a promising future alternative for selected areas of drug delivery.”
“Microdermics is extremely excited to work with a world-class partner like Vetter, since our strategic interests align and their decades of experience and innovation in the fill and finish segment will enable us to accelerate our commercialization strategy. Vetter’s vast experience with a wide variety of drug substances provides us with an invaluable opportunity for a successful development path for our microneedle drug delivery technology,” Grant Campany, President & CEO of Microdermics said.