QRxPharma collaborates with Aesica

Melbourne-based biopharmaceutical company QRxPharma (ASX: QRX) has announced a collaboration agreement with Aesica Pharmaceuticals subsidiary Aesica Formulation Development.

Under the non-exclusive agreement, Aesica will promote QRxPharma’s Stealth Beadlets abuse deterrence technology for inclusion in their clients’ existing formulations of controlled drugs. Aesica will enter into fee-for-service contracts with such third parties for the development of the new Abuse Deterrent Formulations (ADF) of specific drugs of interest, while QRxPharma will negotiate licence terms directly with each party.

QRxPharma’s Managing Director and CEO, Dr John Holaday, acknowledged Aesica’s “extensive experience in formulation development and contract manufacturing, together with their established client base in the controlled drug market” as being key to the collaboration.

Stealth Beadlets were developed for QRxPharma’s MoxDuo CR (controlled release) formulation for the treatment of chronic pain, which is soon to undergo Phase 2 studies. The beadlets may be incorporated into almost any potentially abused drug (eg, opioids, amphetamines, sedatives, etc) that are sold in solid dosage forms (eg, tablet, capsule, sachet).

They provide significant resistance against the extraction of active ingredients if crushed, solubilised or heated, have no effect on the active ingredient release profile and consist entirely of patient-safe, low-cost excipients that have GRAS (generally regarded as safe) status with the US FDA.

QRxPharma shares were trading 0.99% higher at $1.02 as of 11 am on Tuesday.