Phosphagenics licenses TPM to Indian pharma

Phosphagenics (ASX:POH) has agreed to license its Targeted Penetration Matrix (TPM) drug delivery platform technology to an Indian pharmaceutical company.

Agila Specialties Private, a subsidiary of Strides Arcolab, has arranged to license the TPM platform to develop an injectable antibiotic product.

The exclusive global license agreement will see Agila take responsibility for the costs of developing and commercialising the product.

Phosphagenics will receive an upfront payment and royalties on net sales. The company is not disclosing the value of the contract, but the antibiotic injectables market is worth several billion dollars per year worldwide.

Phosphagenics CEO Dr Esra Ogru said this will mark the first time TPM is used in an injectable formulation. He said he expects the Indian partnership to prove valuable for the company.

“Strides and its subsidiary, Agila, have state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities and have had tremendous success in bringing new products to market,” Ogru said.

TPM is a transdermal delivery technology for both small and large molecule drugs.

In-house, Phosphagenics is using TPM to develop TPM/oxycodone, a patch for chronic pain at the phase III trial stage, as well as anti-inflammatory product TPM/diclofenac. The company has a subsidiary, bioELIXIA, which develops beauty products using the technology.

In July, Phosphagenics entered a partnership with Equine Nutrition Australia (ENA) to develop nutritional supplements for racehorses using the TPM technology.

Phosphagenics (ASX:POH) shares were trading unchanged at $0.150 as of around 2:30pm on Tuesday.