Feb 1, 2018 | By Julia

As 3D printing continues to take the medical industry by storm, one pharmaceutical company is ready to take advantage of what it sees as an exciting new business opportunity. Cambridge-based Cycle Pharmaceuticals (Cycle Pharma) has just announced its strategy to harness 3D printing technology as a chief means of producing prescription drugs by way of a new partnership. The partnership agreement will see Cycle Pharma develop and commercialise 3D printed drugs for rare diseases, also known as ‘orphan drugs.’


Touted as one of the organization’s main focus areas, orphan drugs are often overlooked by other pharmaceutical companies by virtue of their very definition. As medicines geared specifically toward rare diseases, orphan drugs constitute treatments, rather than cures, and are thus less profitable than their quick-fix counterparts. Yet even though patients may have to take orphan drugs every day for the rest of their lives, these medications can still save patients by virtue of extending and improving their quality of life. For the same reason, however, any amelioration in this form of treatment is valuable.

Cycle Pharma CEO Antonio Benedetti

Now, Cycle Pharma has clearly identified that potential value, as evidenced by their new partnership with US-based company Aprecia Pharmaceuticals. As detailed by local press, the new Cycle-Aprecia partnership will leverage Aprecia’s ZipDose 3DP technology platform to deliver quality-of-life improvements for approved orphan drugs. As the only 3D printing tech used in a pharmaceutical drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ZipDose 3DP holds serious promise for Aprecia and its new partner. The platform’s flexibility when it comes to applications is certainly bright: ZipDose 3DP can cleverly be combined with a wide variety of active pharmaceutical ingredients to create fast-disintegrating oral dosages that are easy for patients to take and doctors to administer.

As Cycle Pharma CEO Antonio Benedetti explains, because “Aprecia’s ZipDose 3DP technology can formulate fast-melt pharmaceutical products,” the platform can effectively incorporate “significantly higher amounts of active pharmaceutical ingredient than any other fast-melt technology on the market.” Benedetti sees a clear advantage in this, stating that “this advanced technology can uniquely overcome both pill burden and dysphagia – swallowing difficulties – both of which are life-long, daily issues for so many rare disease patients.”

Aprecia CEO Don Wetherhold has echoed Benedetti’s enthusiasm, stating that his team shares important synergies with Cycle mission to address unmet needs in patient care. As a proven provider of quality-of-life improvements to rare disease patients globally, Cycle Pharma is a clear match for Aprecia’s mission to apply its ZipDose 3DP printing technology “to address real-world, daily issues faced by rare disease patients,” Wetherhold says.

The first drugs from the new Cycle-Aprecia partnership are expected to reach the market within the next two or three years.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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