Unilife reports growing interest in prefilled syringe; execs invest
The firm, which licensed the product to French drugmaker Sanofi Aventis for certain applications for $40m last year, said it has “received requests from a number of other interested pharmaceutical companies for the Unifill syringe.”
The comments come weeks after Unilife completed work on cleanrooms and systems at the plant in Pennsylvania where production of the Unifill range, as well as its Unitract safety needle, is due to start later this month.
In a press statement Unilife said: “It is expected that these pharmaceutical companies will purchase the initial production batches to undertake formal evaluations of the device prior to the signing of any commercial agreements.”
Much of Unilife’s focus has been on expanding production Unifill capacity at the 165,000sqm facility, particularly since it completed its corporate relocation from Australia to the US last year.
The firm, which now building up an inventory of components for the device and of other materials used in its production, said it plans to complete final qualification activities sometime in the next three months.
Unilife COO Ramin Mojdeh said that: "Having now established the operational capabilities and human expertise necessary to begin to meet projected demand, we are now preparing to enter into the next phase of our expansion.”
Mojdeh, who joined Unilife in 2010 from rival US delivery device maker BD Pharmaceutical systems, followed up his comments with the acquisition of 54,000 of the firm’s shares for $250,000.
His investment follows just weeks after company CEO Alan Shortall bought $507,000 worth of Unilife stock and is an indication of the level of belief the firm’s executive team has in the product.
