Press Room

Press Release / Jun 14, 2011

Hovione announces filing of patent for new powder inhaler

Hovione announced today the international filing of its latest patent covering a new, highly efficient dry powder inhaler (DPI), XCaps.

XCaps fills a void in the pulmonary inhalation market, as a device which combines high efficiency in powder dispersion with ease of use. Lung fractions in excess of 70% have been achieved, from a device which only requires two steps to inhalation and which only has two components plus a dust cover. This makes XCaps highly suited for inhalation applications where minimal training of patients is desirable and has the versatility to treat almost all pulmonary diseases, including asthma, COPD and infection. 

XCaps follows on the heels of another successful Hovione DPI, TwinCaps®, which was developed specifically for an influenza application and is licensed to Daiichi Sankyo and Biota for this application. Daiichi Sankyo launched Inavir® in the Japanese market in October 2010 and monthly sales in Japan of this TwinCaps®-delivered neuraminidase inhibitor since then have surpassed those of Roche’s Tamiflu® (1, 2).

Hovione is offering XCaps in optional conjunction with its drug product development program, allowing potential licensees to take their candidate drugs from the API stage all the way to the unit dose, under one roof. “We give our customers an edge in speed of development because we are perhaps the only independent company developing DPIs with expertise in every aspect of the inhaled drug development process”, said Peter Villax, Vice-President and co-inventor of the device.

Phil Nelson, Business Development Manager, said “Hovione has wide-ranging expertise in the field of inhalation products. With our core API process development and manufacturing expertise, we can manufacture pharmaceutical ingredients where the final crystallization step produces pulmonary delivery-friendly particles. Alternatively, we can use other particle formulation technologies, such as spray-drying and we are currently pioneering new particle technologies for stable, large dose delivery.” Hovione is currently executing inhaled drug development projects for 5 pharmaceutical companies, involving API process development, particle engineering, formulation and clinical supplies.
 

About Hovione

Hovione is an international company with over 50 years’ experience in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient development and compliant manufacture. With four FDA inspected sites in the U.S., China, Ireland, and Portugal, the company focuses on the most demanding customers, in the most regulated markets. The company also offers integrated API, particle design and formulation development and manufacturing. In the inhalation area, Hovione is the only independent company offering such a broad range of services. 

More about XCaps at www.hovione.com 

Sources:
  1. https://www.biota.com.au/uploaded/154/1021733_76openbriefing-ceoonoutlo.pdf  
  2. FY2010 Consolidated Financial Overview, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., February 2, 2011
Contacts at Hovione

Phil Nelson, PhD
Business Development Manager
pnelson@hovione.com
+351 219 847 619

Isabel Pina
Corporate Communications
ipina@hovione.com
+351 21 982 9362

 

 

Also in the Press Room

See All

Continuous Tableting (CT) is defined as continuous manufacturing of oral dose drugs, specifically tablets. As per ICH's Q13 definition1, a continuous manufacturing process in the pharmaceutical industry comprises at least two unit operations integrated from a mechanical and software perspective. There is a wide combination of possible CT process configurations that are dependent on the needs of the intended product formulation and each of the individual unit operations that constitute the process train can be continuous, semi-continuous, or batch processes. The typical manufacturing processes for tablet formulation are direct compression (DC), dry granulation (DG) and wet granulation (WG)2 - details on these manufacturing processes are beyond the scope of this article, so the interested reader is directed to relevant literature. The actual implementation of CT technology in a facility can broadly vary depending on the level of desired integration and automation. Process trains can be designed to be flexible and converted between multiple configurations (e.g. continuous DC, DG and WG), controlled by the end user from one single software and within a single clean room. The other possibility would be for subsections of the CT process to be divided into multiple clean rooms where inprocess materials are transferred between suites via a bin-to-bin approach (e.g. a granulation suite to prepare granules from raw materials followed by continuous DC (CDC) to blend the granules and produce tablets). The level of automation and instrumentation designed into the CT process (typically involving Process Analytical Technologies, PAT) can open the possibility to implement sophisticated control strategies. Key components of a control strategy that need to be considered for CT are material tracking and genealogy, knowledge of the residence time distribution (RTD), and in-process controls (spectroscopic and/or soft sensors based on process parameters). Holistically, these control strategy elements enable the implementation of a material diversion strategy to automatically divert out of specification material from the process. In their most advanced form, control strategies may also enable real time release testing (RTRt) of the final tablet drug product and reduce the off-line analytical burden and the number of operators needed to manage the process.   Read the full article at gmp-journal.com  

Article
GMP Journal, 04 March 2024

Continuous Tableting and the Road to Global Adoption

Mar 04, 2024

Hovione Macau was recently awarded the Medal of Merit for Industrial and Commercial Excellence by the Government of Macau, a Special Administrative Region of the People´s Republic of China. This prestigious award recognizes the company's nearly 40 years of outstanding contribution to the pharmaceutical industry in Macau. Eddy Leong, Site Manager of Hovione Macau, accepted this prestigious Medal on behalf of Hovione at the ceremony held in Macau. Eddy Leong expressed his gratitude for the award and emphasized the company's commitment to working with partner organizations to create rewarding career opportunities in life sciences. Read this press release to learn more about the Medal of Merit awarded by Hovione. If you would like to explore our open opportunities in Hovione Macau, please visit our Careers Website.   

News
Exciting News Alert from Hovione in Macau

Hovione Macau awarded by the Government of Macau at a Ceremony held in Macau

Jan 19, 2024

Also in Events

See All