Aptar Pharma announced that it has acquired worldwide rights to Pharmaxis’ high payload Orbital dry powder inhaler. In August 2021, the company said that it had acquired an option to purchase the rights to the Orbital DPI and that it had 12 months to decide whether or not to exercise that option. The Orbital inhaler can handle total doses up to 400 mg and was initially designed for delivery of Pharmaxis’ Bronchitol dry powder mannitol.
Aptar Pharma VP, Global Pulmonary Category, Howard Burnett said, “With this acquisition, Aptar Pharma is pleased to be building on our current expertise for the treatment of chronic conditions. As a recognized global leader in respiratory drug delivery devices and associated services, we now have a wider offering to meet our customer needs.”
Pharmaxis CEO Gary Phillips commented, “I am delighted that Aptar Pharma, who are one of the world’s foremost drug delivery device companies, have seen the potential in the Orbital technology. We look forward to them building on the technical evaluations carried out during the option period and delivering new product solutions that can benefit drug developers and patients. Today’s announcement is a further example of our strategy to generate non-dilutive cash from the mannitol respiratory business.”
Over the past few years, Aptar Pharma has been acquiring a wide range of OINDP companies and technologies. Earlier this year, the company launched an MDI sensor called HeroTracker Sense that was originally developed by Cohero Health, which was acquired by Aptar in 2020. In October 2021, Aptar announced that it would co-develop and promote i2c Pharmaceutical Services’ Respitab MDI technology. The previous year, the company acquired OINDP formulator Nanopharm and characterization specialist Gateway Analytical as well as device onboarding company Noble.
Read the Aptar Pharma press release.
