Eiffel in second deal with US pharma

Drug reformulation company Eiffel Technologies (ASX: EIF) has signed a one-year contract with specialist pulmonary medicines maker BattellePharma to create nanoparticles for the United States group's asthma product.

Eiffel, previously known as PharmAction Holdings, will employ its suite of supercritical fluid (SCF) platform technologies to the project, which is currently under development.

While the parties refused to disclose specific details of the agreement, the Melbourne company told investors it would retain the intellectual property related to the process and methodology of its SCF technology.

Eiffel CEO Christine Cussen said the agreement was a "revenue generating contract" that served as an endorsement of the company's platform.

"Eiffel adds value by reformulating new, currently marketed, and generic pharmaceuticals to improve the performance of therapies and offer more convenient, patient-friendly delivery of drugs," Cussen said.

"The BattellePharma agreement represents the potential to progress towards a long term supply agreement with a highly reputable pharmaceutical company."

The deal is the second Eiffel has struck with BattellePharma, the first being a research agreement announced in December last year to supply the sub-micron sized particles for testing in the US company's proprietary electrohydrodynamic Mystic pulmonary delivery device.

The latest contract also follows another signed in November with Sheffield Pharmaceuticals to reformulate pulmonary drugs, and a collaboration signed in May with Amarin Corporation to apply Eiffel's technology to slow-release drugs.

Eiffel's business model is based on eight SCF patent-protected technology platforms acquired from the University of NSW and University of Sydney.

The technology is a chemical engineering technique with the capability to improve the solubility and bioavailability of pharmaceuticals, offering the potential of more cost effective, patient-convenient reformulations of medicines.

Such re-engineering is also expected to extend the patent life of currently marketed and generic drugs.

BattellePharma, a subsidiary of the Battelle Memorial Institute, is a pre-public drug design company with three key platforms: the Mystic inhalation technology, novel formulation technologies and an inhaled anticancer therapy.

CEO Dennis Cearlock said the company was pleased to continue its relationship with Eiffel. "Mystic technology, which outperforms current inhaled drug delivery options, allows for highly reproducible dosing, resulting in better disease management and lower overall doses for improved safety," Cearlock said.

"We believe the combination of the SCF technology and our Mystic delivery system will enhance the performance of BattellePharma's asthma product."