Vetter, a provider of aseptic prefilled drug-delivery systems and related services, and Microdermics, a Vancouver-based medical device company developing a hollow, metal microneedle drug and vaccine delivery system, have entered into a strategic cooperation agreement.

Microneedles are a technology 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, according to information from Vetter. To overcome this hurdle, the two companies have joined forces to lever the expertise of both firms and enable late-stage process development and device manufacture on a commercial scale.

Microdermics’ microneedle technology is commercially scalable. Microdermics has successfully demonstrated the initial safety of its microneedle system, and is planning Phase I human clinical trials for vaccine and therapeutic delivery to be initiated in 2017. Vetter offers device development and associated drug product manufacturing and packaging services.

Source: Vetter