Eiffel partners with UK drug delivery specialist

Melbourne bioengineering company Eiffel Technologies (ASX: EIF) has entered a research partnership with London-based Amarin Corporation to manufacture slow-release, sub-micron sized drugs.

The alliance, Eiffel's third within six months, is to combine the local group's supercritical fluid bioengineering technology with Amarin's controlled release delivery system.

Amarin, which is listed on the Nasdaq, is a specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on neurology and pain management.

Announcing the collaboration today, Eiffel said the combined technology of the two groups held the potential to "improve the extended release of drugs that are difficult to deliver orally because of their low absorption into the blood stream".

"The new combination technology could be applied to new compounds or drugs currently on the market but not available in extended-release formulations due to dissolution issues that negatively impact bioavailability," a statement said.

While the initial phase of the collaboration will see each group bearing its individual costs, Eiffel said the collaboration could lead to an expanded development alliance between the two.

The first part of the project will involve applying Eiffel's supercritical fluid technology to the production of sub-micron sized drug particles of an undisclosed substance that has poor solubility.

The drug particles would then be incorporated into Amarin's Diffusion Controlled Vesicle controlled-release technology.

The technology, which allows for controlled release of drugs over 24 hours, comprises a tablet core incorporating an active ingredient surrounded by a water-soluble membrane that contains minute particles of water-soluble material, which dissolve when the tablet is ingested.

Under the terms of the agreement, Eiffel will keep intellectual property related to the process and methodology of its supercritical fluid technology.

Eiffel said the collaboration signalled an important move into the reformulation of oral drugs, a market estimated to be worth almost $US40 billion.