Acrux teams with Pharmacia to explore transdermal tech

Melbourne start-up company Acrux has signed an agreement with pharmaceutical giant Pharmacia to explore the use of Acrux's proprietary transdermal drug delivery technology for Pharmacia's drugs.

The Metered Dose Transdermal System (MDTS), developed at the Victorian College of Pharmacy at Monash University, is a method of delivering drugs across the skin. Acrux holds the license for commercial development.

"This is the first R&D agreement that Acrux has had, so it is a big event in the life of a start-up company," said Dr Igor Gonda, managing director of Acrux.

"We couldn't have picked a better partner than Pharmacia."

With the support of Pharmacia, Acrux will develop and test several of Pharmacia's compounds using the MDTS platform.

"It is not a single compound agreement," said Gonda, explaining that a variety of compounds would be tested. He added that the agreement covers early stage human clinical trials as well as laboratory development.

"It's a tremendous opportunity for the company," he claimed.

Dr Gonda said the transdermal delivery platform was based on a discovery that common sunscreen compounds were able to enhance the penetration of the skin by other molecules. The technology incorporates a spray to deliver the drug with the enhancers onto the skin surface. This results in a "patch" under the skin.

"It is a very elegant system," said Gonda.