Large pharma firms interested in Stirling delivery tech

26-Sep-2010 - Last updated on 27-Sep-2010 at 08:56 GMT

Related tags Pharmaceutical drug Pharmacology

Stirling Products is in discussions with three large pharma interesting in accessing its HDA drug delivery platform.

Reformulating existing treatments using the High Density Aerosol (HDA) could extend the lifecycle of a drug, making it a potentially attractive delivery option as pharma approaches the patent cliff.

Early last month “three of the world’s largest industry companies” approached Stirling to discuss accessing the platform. Stirling is offering an exclusive partnership in the HDA platform in exchange for a negotiable up front payment and one-third share of gross sales revenue.

Accessing the delivery platform would support efforts to create inhalable formulations. HDA uses ultrasound to create a self-propelled aerosol which travels through the delivery device at several metres per second.

Creating a self-propelled system eliminates the need to use compressed gas or fan delivered airflow to administer the aerosol. This eliminates dilution effects associated with gas or fan delivery and reduces drug loss through condensation inside the nebulisation chamber.

Both these factors help increase aerosol concentration, allowing for smaller quantities of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) to be used. Stirling believes this could improve a drug’s safety profile and extend its lifecycle.

An early, single-dose device based on the HDA platform was granted 510k approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Later devices use newly patented technologies and capabilities.

Discussions are ongoing with the three unnamed companies.

Pharma sales & pathology

Stirling has resolved issues restricting supply and expects its Stirling Health branded products to arrive this week. Branded products will be steadily added to the company’s pipeline and Stirling expects them to be increasingly visible in Australian pharmacies from October onwards.

Furthermore, Stirling is in the process of acquiring Halcion, a pathology business, and is waiting on due diligence and shareholder approval. Completion of the deal would result in Stirling introducing pathology services to select pharmacies throughout Australia.