On November 24, 2021 Rousselot B.V. and Zerion Pharma ApS reported that they have strengthened their partnership through an extension of an exclusive license agreement entered into in 2019 (Press release, Zerion, NOV 24, 2021, View Source [SID1234598619]). According to the revised license agreement, Rousselot grants Zerion Pharma an exclusive license to exploit the inventions covered by the patent family belonging to international patent application WO 2017/186889. The revision of the license agreement follows the recent grant of a key European Patent No. 17 722 708.9 that is included in the patent family.
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The two companies have worked together since 2019 and Rousselot has supported Zerion Pharma in the development of its Dispersome technology platform that enables significant increase in the solubility of otherwise poorly soluble drug compounds for oral administration. Rousselot has explored early variants of the Dispersome technology and has contributed valuable experimental data including results from pharmacokinetic preclinical studies.
The revised license agreement with Rousselot strengthens Zerion Pharma’s position as an innovative and leading supplier of competitive solutions for addressing one of the pharmaceutical industry’s most pressing problems: poor drug solubility.
"The grant of the European Patent marks an important milestone in our efforts to establish a dominating IP position in the field of preparing amorphous drug formulations using proteins as excipients", says Ole Wiborg, CEO of Zerion Pharma. "We have several other patent families protecting the Dispersome technology but the WO 2017/186889 patent family was filed relatively early and covers certain general aspects of the technology that we consider essential to our business", and continues:
"We are delighted to extend and strengthen our partnership with Rousselot that has done an impressive job in demonstrating the usefulness of proteins as excipients for increasing drug solubility and bioavailability. We are very pleased not only with the license grant that secures our IP position in the field but also with the documentation that Rousselot has established during recent years, including proof-of-concept and the comparative advantages of the Dispersome technology in-vivo."
While Zerion Pharma has been granted a broad exclusive license, Rousselot has retained certain rights to exploit the inventions described in WO 2017/186889 within limited fields. Under the terms of the agreement, Zerion Pharma will pay license fees and royalties to Rousselot. The financial terms are not disclosed.
"We are extremely pleased to have extended our license agreement with Zerion whom we consider an upcoming leader in the field of drug formulation and an optimal partner to further develop our contribution to the Dispersome technology", says Sandor Noordermeer, Vice President Global Marketing & Sales at Rousselot. "Back in 2019, we were impressed to see the promising results Zerion had generated with the use of whey proteins to increase drug solubility. The combination of their strong scientific foundation, innovativeness and Zerion’s fierce efforts to develop the company made the choice easy. I am confident that joining forces through collaboration and this license agreement will ensure successful commercialization of the Dispersome technology as state-of-art in the field of drug formulation".