Phosphagenics taps Labtec for pain patch design

Phosphagenics (ASX:POH) has engaged Germany's Labtec GmbH to help design the final delivery patch for its TPM/oxycodone chronic pain treatment.

The Melbourne drug delivery company revealed it expects to finalise the design of its TPM/oxycodone patch within the next three months, in preparation for phase III clinical trials.

Phosphagenics said it will continue working with 3M, which helped design the patch prototypes and a commercial candidate version, but will lean on Labtec for additional development and manufacturing capability.

Labtec is a specialist in opioid patch development, having developed the largest selling fentanyl patch in German, and a sufentanil patch progressing through late-stage clinical trials. It is part of the German tesa SE Group, which manufactures self-adhesive products for a variety of purposes.

Announcing the partnership, Phosphagenics said it must eliminate a minor patch crystallisation issue with the prototype, which usually requires optimising the ratio between solvent and adhesive in the patch formulation.

Once phase III trials of the patch commence, it will be difficult to make further changes to the product, so the product design must be optimised before a trial scheduled to begin by the first quarter of calendar 2013.

TPM/oxycodone uses Phosphagenics' Targeted Penetration Matrix (TPM) dermal delivery system.

The company is also commercialising a topical pain relief patch using the same delivery system, TPM/diclofenac, and in March signed a pre-licensing deal for this product with Japan's Nippon Zoki Pharmaceutical.

Phosphagenics (ASX:POH) shares were trading unchanged at $0.175 as of midday on Thursday, up from $0.16 at last Friday’s close.