GSK and Eurand set to research new drug formulation

Eurand, an Italian-American speciality pharmaceutical company, has announced it has been selected to help develop a new formulation for a current but unnamed GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) drug.

Britain’s biggest pharmaceutical company intends to make use of Eurand’s Microcaps taste-making technology, as well as its AdvaTab oral disintegration tablet processes, under the terms of a worldwide agreement.

GSK will fund the development of the new formulation, while Eurand will receive royalties on sales. The total amount payable by GSK could amount to $42 million (22.6 million pounds), dependent on reaching regulatory, development and sales milestones.

Eurand’s chief executive officer, Gearoid Faherty, stated: “We are delighted that GSK has chosen Eurand for this important project, we believe it further confirms our market leading position in the fields of taste-masking and oral disintegrating tablets.”

The company has also used its technologies in making new formulations of cetrizine, the antihistamine marketed in the UK by UCB as Zirtek. A proprietary drug for pancreatic insufficiency is also in development and is undergoing phase III clinical trials.

Eurand was founded in Milan in 1969 and employs over 500 people.