Adare Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company and leading global provider of advanced pharmaceutical technologies, development and manufacturing, has announced it has acquired the pharmaceutical technology company, Orbis Biosciences of Lenexa, KS. The acquisition of Orbis will enhance Adare's Pharmaceutical Technologies business, which develops and manufactures products for global pharmaceutical, animal health and over-the-counter (OTC) markets.
"Orbis's customised technologies are an excellent complement to our contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) business which is currently focused on oral dosage forms for pharmaceutical and OTC medicines," said John Fraher, CEO of Adare Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
"In particular, their platforms create drug particles that can be dosed in oral liquid, injectable, and otic dosage forms. These will broaden our product development offerings and ultimately, advance the growth of our CDMO business, further strengthening our leadership in taste-masking and controlled-release technologies."
Orbis provides enhanced technologies in a scaled, single-step manufacturing process. Its Precision Particle Fabrication technology is the only technology currently on the market that can produce uniform particles in size ranges suitable for use in injectable, otic and oral dosage forms. The platform technology is flexible and customisable to accommodate a broad range of active ingredients, including small molecules, peptides, and proteins. Orbis’s proprietary technology includes three platforms: Optimμm for oral delivery; Stratμm for injectable delivery; and Unisun for otic delivery. “The acquisition by Adare will globalize the reach of our technologies and services,” said Maria Flynn, president and CEO of Orbis Biosciences. “Orbis’s focus on precision delivery solutions has enabled us to develop expertise in novel extended-release and pulsatile- release formulations and to collaborate with great partners. We are pleased to join Adare, an industry leader in drug formulation development and manufacturing.”
Adare’s technologies include: Microcaps for taste-masking via a solvent or aqueous based coacervation process; Diffucaps that incorporates release-controlling polymers or protective coatings onto drug-layered cores, granules, or crystals; and the MMTS Multi Mini Tablet System in which functional membranes are applied to 1.0-2.0 mm cylindrical tablets to control release rates. These technologies are designed to be used together for greater flexibility in designing release profiles.
The acquisition was finalised on 30 April for an undisclosed amount. Orbis Biosciences will maintain its operations in Lenexa, KS and integration of the companies will commence immediately. Stifel acted as exclusive financial advisor to Orbis in this transaction. Life Science Legal LLC served as general and transaction legal counsel to Orbis while Gunderson Dettmer served as Orbis’ corporate and securities legal counsel. Duane Morris LLP served as legal advisor to Adare in the transaction.
