Hovione and Zerion Pharma announce technology partnership 

Published: 23-Feb-2022

The companies’ expertise and technology will be combined to address the problem of low drug solubility

Spray drying specialist Hovione has announced a partnership with Zerion Pharma to market and commercialise Dispersome, Zerion´s proprietary solubility enhancement technology platform. 

The platform builds on the concept of increasing drug solubility with natural protein-based excipients to formulate APIs into amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) by spray drying. By combining Dispersome with Hovione’s spray drying capabilities, experience in development, scale-up and GMP manufacturing, the companies aim to address one of the most prevalent challenges faced by the industry: low drug solubility.  

“We are extremely pleased to have entered into this partnership with Zerion whom we recognise as a very innovative company in the field of oral drug formulations. By joining forces, Zerion and Hovione will be able to bring Dispersome to the market faster. We look forward to applying the technology in collaboration with our customers and partners in our effort to develop novel drugs with strong benefits to patients,” said Jean-Luc Herbeaux, Hovione´s COO. “Hovione will continue to pursue opportunities to enhance its offering around core areas of expertise such as particle engineering and inhalation by partnering with companies and research institutions developing innovative drug formulation technologies, like Dispersome”. 

Zerion CEO Ole Wiborg said: “We consider Hovione the global leader in the field of producing amorphous solid dispersions by spray-drying. More importantly for us, this leadership has resulted in Hovione being, over the last 5 years, the main commercial manufacturer of novel FDA-approved drugs formulated as amorphous solid dispersions. Incorporating these competencies in our offering to the pharma industry both validates the strength of our Dispersome platform and provides us and our pharma partners immediate access to the highest quality in upscaling and commercial GMP manufacturing.”

Image credit: Hovione.

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