CDMO Vectura, which specializes in inhaled drug development and manufacturing, announced that it is adding new product development capabilities for handling highly potent APIs. The new laboratory, which will be located at the company’s Chippenham, UK facility, is expected to be ready for use in early 2021. The new lab will have six containment isolators to house dispensing, blending, co-milling, jet-milling, spray-drying and blister-filling equipment for development of highly potent inhaled drugs.
Vectura Chief Scientific Officer and Executive VP Product Development Geraldine Venthoye said, “As a leading inhalation development company, we are committed to developing capabilities to meet our customers’ needs. Many inhaled drugs, targeting, for example, asthma and COPD, rely on high potency because of the small doses delivered, so this investment is crucial to ensure we have the physical capabilities to go alongside our scientists’ expertise to develop medicines and treatments in the future.”
The US Court of Appeals recently upheld a judgment against GSK for infringing on Vectura patents covering Ellipta inhalers that could require GSK to pay Vectura as much as $200 million. The company also announced recently that Kinaset Therapeutics had licensed VR588, an inhaled pan-JAK inhibitor that was in Vectura’s pipeline before Vectura transitioned into an inhalation CDMO.
Read the Vectura press release.
