Unilife, Astra Zeneca Form Supply Pact for Wearable Injectors
Unilife Corporation, a designer, developer and supplier of injectable drug delivery systems, has formed a supply agreement with MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca.
The supply agreement, executed on October 30, 2015, provides commercial terms for the long-term supply of a customized device from Unilife’s Precision Therapy platform of wearable injectors for a monoclonal antibody in late-stage clinical studies in MedImmune’s pipeline.
The supply agreement follows the master terms defined in the companies’ November 2013 Master Development and Supply Agreement for the customization and supply of Unilife’s wearable injectors for use with MedImmune’s drug candidates. The customization phase of the lead wearable injector program for Medimmune is now nearing completion, and device production has begun at Unilife. Additionally, Unilife is shipping wearable injectors to MedImmune this quarter. In addition to development and material fees already paid by MedImmune, Unilife will begin generating revenue from the sale of these devices in the current quarter of this fiscal year.
Unilife has completed its device component design verification and successful independent human factors studies for this device, as well as the qualification of filling of this wearable injector drug container for future filling on high-speed biopharmaceutical filling lines.
The new supply agreement provides minimum purchase commitments from MedImmune for the initial four years following the commercial launch of this biologic and also has unit pricing for the devices.
Separately, Unilife provided an update to a possible deal regarding the company. In response to third-party initiated expressions of interest, Unilife engaged Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as its financial advisor in September 2015 to conduct a review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value. Unilife has received interest from several parties, and the company hopes to announce a strategic transaction by December 31, 2015.
Source: Unilife