Ranbaxy, Vectura Tie Up For Oral Controlled Release Tech

Ranbaxy Laboratories Nether- lands BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, today announced a collaboration with UK-based Vectura Ltd for developing a patent-protected oral controlled release technology with potential application in a broad range of pharmaceutical compounds.

According to company sources, the technology will allow the release of a daily dose of the drug throughout the whole gastrointestinal tract and is being developed with the aim to providing unique release modulation, suitable for both low and high dose drugs.

Oral controlled release medicines developed by the new technology will help improve patient compliance through reduced dosing and minimised incidence of side effects, they added.

A company release said that while Ranbaxy will utilise its expertise in clinical development and scale-up, as well as its manufacturing and international marketing capability, Vectura will contribute its proprietary intellectual property and innovative drug delivery solutions in the area of controlled release systems to the collaboration.

Vectura is a world leader in the application of particle science for the development of novel drug delivery systems.

The market for oral controlled-release systems was recently valued at over $14 billion.

The cost of the initial feasibility programme will be shared equally by the parties, with Vectura earning royalties on any products developed and commercialised by Ranbaxy utilising the new technology.