International CDMO Recipharm has partnered with biotechnology company Aptahem for the formulation of Apta-1 drug candidate. The aptamer-based drug candidate is intended to treat life-threatening condition sepsis, a potentially fatal condition which involves a general inflammatory response, known as systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), caused by an infection.
Recipharm will develop an injectable formulation for the upcoming Phase 1 study.
Anders Högdin, Senior Sales Director at Recipharm, said: “Recipharm has extensive experience in developing drugs for clinical trials, as well as in commercial manufacturing and we believe that our team’s expertise will be a very valuable asset during this new collaboration.”
The partnership follows the positive results of Apta-1’s exploratory sepsis study with non-human primates (NHP) which provided a greater understanding of the anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of the candidate and continued to support its multifunctional potential within its therapeutic area.
Mikael Lindstam, CEO of Aptahem, said: “Choosing a partner to help us progress our drug candidate is a significant milestone. We are now moving at full speed ahead in the development process of Apta-1 and with this cooperation now established I am convinced that we will be able to accelerate further.”