Interesting article here in today the Fierce Drug delivery Editor's Corner
In the biotech and pharma industries, drug delivery is a crucial aspect of research and development. Finding new ways to deliver old drugs, ways to make a new drug more efficient or ways that make a patient's life easier could all give a company a leg up on its competitors. But with the amount of R&D time and money needed to innovate in the field, it's often left to smaller specialty companies--and their partnerships with Big Biotech and Big Pharma--to bring these new techniques to the market.
"In 2013, several big deals went down, often with a giant in the industry licensing technology from a smaller, specialty outfit dedicated to a particular space. And many of these deals offer insight into trends in the industry, such as Unilife's ($UNIS) sales of wearable injectable devices."
"In the biotech and pharma industries, drug delivery is a crucial aspect of research and development. Finding new ways to deliver old drugs, ways to make a new drug more efficient or ways that make a patient's life easier could all give a company a leg up on its competitors. But with the amount of R&D time and money needed to innovate in the field, it's often left to smaller specialty companies--and their partnerships with Big Biotech and Big Pharma--to bring these new techniques to the market.
"Below are several of the bigger deals of this past year, in no particular order. As with many partnerships like these, most hinge on milestones down the road as opposed to a huge upfront payment. The promised funds add up to more than $2.3 billion, not including the amounts that have been kept under wraps. Of course, as with any list like this, it is not comprehensive but represents trends in the industry.
"Company: Unilife ($UNIS) Partners: Novartis ($NVS), Hikma, AstraZeneca ($AZN), Sanofi ($SNY) Technology: Injectables Amount: Novartis, undisclosed; Hikma, $40 million; AZ, undisclosed; Sanofi, 150 million units per year
"The scoop: Injectables maker Unilife boasted a full year of partnerships with some of the biggest names in the industry. In 2013, the company signed on with Novartis, Hikma, AstraZeneca's MedImmune and Sanofi, offering each of the outfits a deal that gives them access to its several lines of injectable delivery devices for large molecules.
"The Novartis and AstraZeneca deals went down for undisclosed amounts, but the deal with Hikma gave Unilife $40 million and a 15-year contract. For Sanofi, it's a 10-year contract for at least 150 million units a year.
"The technology differs for each deal. Unilife has the capacity to tailor its devices for the needs of each partner, Unilife CEO Alan Shortall told FierceDrugDelivery in December. Novartis, for instance, signed on for a delivery system to inject an unspecified early-stage pipeline drug using customized technology, in a deal that would affect "a significant portion of the U.S. and the world."
"This is the delivery of a biologic directly into the organ in the body," Shortall said at the time. "The other solution is to carry out surgery, and Novartis came to us to come up with an alternative, a new route of delivery."
"A wearable injector also caught MedImmune's interest, and Unilife is also customizing its devices for specific drugs in the MedImmune pipeline."
It is quite clear from these articles that, despite what the likes of Kerrisdale Captial and Stone Street Advisors would have you believe, that Unilife is indeed one of the leaders in injectable drug delivery platforms, if not the leader.
I have included the links for our American friends and everyone else around the world who follow Unilife.
Spread the word. There's much more to come here, all good.
For more: Unilife bags Novartis deal for injectable tech Unilife signs $40M deal to supply Hikma with prefilled syringes MedImmune taps Unilife for wearable biologic injectable tech
Read more: The top drug delivery partnerships of 2013 - FierceDrugDelivery http://www.fiercedrugdelivery.com/special-reports/top-drug-delivery-partnerships-2013#ixzz2sTUvoqTa Subscribe at FierceDrugDelivery
Read more: Unilife and Novartis, Hikma, AstraZeneca, Sanofi - FierceDrugDelivery http://www.fiercedrugdelivery.com/special-reports/unilife-and-novartis-hikma-astrazeneca-sanofi#ixzz2sTUZYJTj Subscribe at FierceDrugDelivery
UNS Price at posting:
73.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
