A new, or at least new-ish, contract development and manufacturing company called Formex LLC launched on March 8, 2013 after its parent company, Biotech Investment Group (B.I.G.), acquired all of the assets formerly belonging to Akela Pharma subsidiary PharmForm.
Formex’s services are the same as PharmaForm’s, including formulation development and GMP clinical manufacturing for various dosage forms, including intranasal and dry powder inhalation products.
In 2012, B.I.G. Chairman Masood Tayebi saw an opportunity when PharmaForm approached the company about renting space in its 80,000 sq. ft. facility in Torrey Pines, which had been built originally for Biogen Idec. Tayebi was looking to partner with a formulation company to complement his existing drug discovery businesses, and PharmaForm was looking to move to California from Texas at the request of clients. Finding a manufacturing facility built to GMP standards would make the transition as smooth as possible, and in October 2012, PharmaForm announced that it would move into the Torrey Pines Facility.
Soon, though, it became apparent that Akela was in trouble, the result, former Akela President and CEO Rudy Emmelot says, of debts related to the company’s discontinued Taifun inhaled fentanyl development program.
