The European Patent Office (EPO) has granted a patent for Hovione’s XCaps, a dry powder inhaler (DPI). XCaps addresses a pulmonary inhalation market need for a very inexpensive device which combines high efficiency in powder dispersion with ease of use. Lung fractions in excess of 70 per cent have been achieved, from a device which only requires two steps to inhalation and which only has two components plus a dust cover. This makes XCaps highly suited for inhalation applications where minimal training of patients is desirable and has the versatility to treat almost all pulmonary diseases, including asthma, COPD as well as infection, which typically require very large dose delivery.
XCaps follows on the heels of another successful Hovione DPI, TwinCaps, which was developed specifically for an influenza application and is licensed to Daiichi Sankyo and Biota for this application. Hovione is offering XCaps as a part of its inhalation device portfolio, allowing its integration with a drug product development programme, allowing business partners to take their candidate drugs from the API stage all the way to the unit dose, with a single partner.
Peter Villax, Vice-President and co-inventor of the device, said “We give our customers an edge in speed of development because we are perhaps the only independent company developing DPIs with expertise in every aspect of the inhaled drug development process. Granting of the European Patent on the XCaps inhaler, within 30 months after initial filing, underpins Hovione’s capabilities in innovation and intellectual property management, to successfully design, develop and deliver innovative products, namely, a quality inhalation device, addressing a market need.”
“The XCaps addresses a gap for a simple, easy to use, cost effective, multiple use, capsule-based inhalation device. This allows our business partners to take advantage of additional patent protection for their inhalation drug product and effective drug product life cycle management,” said Gonçalo Andrade, Business Development Manager, Hovione.
Hovione is currently executing inhaled drug development projects for multiple pharmaceutical companies, involving API process development, particle engineering, formulation and clinical supplies and is looking for partners willing to incorporate the XCaps into their inhalation drug development.
EP News Bureau– Mumbai
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