Hovione and Merrion Pharmaceuticals Announce Strategic Partnership on Use of Merrion’s GIPET Technology

Hovione and Merrion Pharmaceuticals has concluded a strategic partnership directed to the use of Merrion’s patented GIPET absorption enhancing technology by Hovione clients. Hovione, an international contract formulation and manufacturing group, will add its commercial reach and technical expertise to generate new products where the use of absorption enhancement through GIPET is appropriate.

Hovione and Merrion Pharmaceuticals have already established a cooperative relationship on technical issues relating to GIPET manufacture, and the agreement provides for the companies to collaborate on the feasibility assessment of GIPET with development compounds introduced by third parties. Subject to a decision to proceed, separate technology and manufacturing agreements may be negotiated with the third party. In this way Hovione is able to leverage its expertise and international manufacturing capability to supply new products from clinical trials to commercialization. In its turn Merrion Pharmaceuticals is positioned to add to its current licences with external development and marketing partners while keeping operational overheads to a minimum.

In a comment on the agreement, Merrion’s Chief Executive, Dr John Fox noted: "I am delighted that Merrion Pharmaceuticals is working with a partner of such scale and reputation. Merrion and Hovione represent complementary offerings to companies seeking to develop tablet versions of compounds that otherwise may have been administered by injection or never reached patients at all."

“We are very pleased to announce this collaboration with Merrion Pharmaceuticals, which extends our current expertise and capabilities in improving solubility of oral drugs by addressing the permeability limitations of BCS classes III and IV drugs. This adds value to our customers and benefits the patients. This agreement reinforces our strategy of combining strengths with other innovative companies like Merrion, to create better medicines,” said Dave Hoffman, Hovione’s Vice President of Sales and Business Development.