Funding will enable innovative drug delivery company, BDD to scale up GMP manufacture of revolutionary time controlled “pill within a pill”
Edinburgh, 20 March 2018
Archangels, the Scottish Investment Bank and Bio-Images Drug Delivery Limited (BDD) announce the completion of a £2m funding round designed to enable BDD to scale its business, focusing on its unique OralogiKTM precision timed drug delivery system.
The OralogiK timed release technology enables the oral delivery of single, multi-dose or combination drugs at pre-determined times between one and 12 hours after being swallowed by the patient. The performance of this unique drug delivery system has been validated in multiple clinical studies in humans and offers tremendous opportunities, including:
- night time dosing of a drug to be delivered pre-wakeup;
- multi-phased delivery of one or more drugs (immediate and delayed) to allow once-a-day dosing or for pre-treatment by one drug before the delivery of a second;
- delivery of drugs to specific regions of the digestive system (e.g. the colon)
Glasgow and Newhouse-based BDD will use the funding to purchase processing and analytical equipment for the large-scale GMP manufacture of OralogiK. This will allow BDD to develop its own timed-release products for improved patient outcomes. The funding also enables business expansion and recruitment across its two sites.
BDD is uniquely placed to provide clinical data to pharma companies that have licensed OralogiK, using its gamma scintigraphy imaging division (BDD Scintigraphy) that can be harnessed to deliver rapid clinical results.
Dr Carol Thomson, Chief Executive Officer of BDD, said:
“OralogiK is a truly exciting technology that could transform the lives of many patients and this funding will accelerate its route to market. More than that, by partnering with Archangels, BDD can access its network of sector experts and ensure that we can fully capitalise on the potential of OralogiK”
Sarah Hardy, Investment Director at Archangels, said:
“We are confident that OralogiK could become a gamechanger for drugs that will be more effective with delayed or phased delivery. The BDD team is rightly excited about its potential and we believe that this unique precision delivery technology has the capability of being a global success story for patients and clinicians alike.”
Kerry Sharp, director of the Scottish Investment Bank, said:
“Life sciences is a key sector for Scottish Enterprise and Scotland, and it’s great to see BDD raising the funds required to expand its business. We’ve supported the company through our financial readiness and account management approach and we look forward to continuing this to help deliver its growth plans.”
BDD has already secured contracts with numerous global pharmaceutical companies to develop and apply the OralogiK technology to new and existing drugs that may benefit from either delayed or phased delivery. The first product is expected to be launched in 2020. BDD will generate revenues from service fees, milestone payments and sales royalties.
The intellectual property surrounding the OralogiK proprietary technology is protected by key patents in the major markets worldwide.
Examples of therapeutic areas that could benefit from OralogiK include:
- Cardiovascular – ensuring the delivery of anti-hypertensive drugs pre-wakeup when patients are at the highest risk of a coronary incident
- Early morning pain and stiffness – delivering drugs that tackle these symptoms before they wake up, enabling the patient to wake free from pain and ready to start the day
- Colon related diseases – using the unique timed-release capability to release drugs directly to the colon.
- ADHD –Cingulate Therapeutics, Kansas City, KS USA has used BDD’s OralogiK technology to develop a unique trimodal release designed to deliver a rapid onset and last the entire active day while providing a controlled descent of plasma drug levels to optimise treatment.
