Zogenix & Battelle to Collaborate on Advanced Drug Delivery Technology

Zogenix, Inc. and Battelle recently announced a unique collaboration with the objective of advancing the development and commercialization of Zogenix’s DosePro drug delivery technology outside Zogenix’s core therapeutic focus areas.

The companies have signed a Letter of Intent to enter into an exclusive co-marketing and technology development option agreement to utilize Zogenix’s DosePro needle-free drug delivery technology for new commercial out-licensing opportunities. DosePro technology enables needle-free medication delivery under the skin. Instead of a needle injection, DosePro technology uses a small amount of compressed gas to deliver a liquid formulation through the skin as a thin jet of medication. DosePro is the world’s only commercially available, single-use, disposable, needle-free, subcutaneous delivery technology.

In the joint marketing arrangement, Zogenix and Battelle intend to offer Zogenix’s novel DosePro technology to pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms to develop and commercialize innovative drug delivery products for development pipelines and for life cycle management of marketed prescription drugs and biologics, subject to Zogenix and Battelle executing a definitive agreement on the terms contemplated by the non-binding Letter of Intent. In addition, the Letter of Intent contemplates that upon successful out-licensing of DosePro, Battelle will have the option to participate directly in further development of the DosePro technology. This work, for which Zogenix has completed prototype design, is intended to broaden the capability of the technology to deliver larger dose volumes required for high-dose biological products. The arrangement is intended to fulfill the needs of biopharmaceutical companies that want to offer more customizable platform technologies resulting in differentiated products that can potentially increase efficacy, patient compliance, and market share.

Zogenix’s DosePro has received regulatory approvals in the US and Europe, and is covered by more than 46 international issued patents extending through 2026. Zogenix has shipped in excess of 1.5 million DosePro units of the company’s approved migraine therapy, SUMAVEL DosePro, and patient experience has demonstrated they will switch from oral to injectable formulations when provided the option of using DosePro.

Zogenix, Inc., with offices in San Diego and Emeryville, CA, is a pharmaceutical company commercializing and developing products for the treatment of central nervous system disorders and pain. Zogenix’s first commercial product, SUMAVEL DosePro (sumatriptan injection) Needle-free Delivery System, was launched in January 2010 for the acute treatment of migraine and cluster headache. Zogenix’s lead investigational product candidate, Zohydro (hydrocodone bitartrate), is a novel, oral, single-entity (without acetaminophen) extended-release capsule formulation currently in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of moderate-to-severe chronic pain in patients requiring around-the-clock opioid therapy. Zogenix’s second DosePro investigational product candidate, Relday, is a proprietary, long-acting injectable formulation of risperidone for the treatment of schizophrenia.

As the world’s largest independent research and development organization, Battelle provides innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management; National Security; Health and Life Sciences; and Energy, Environment and Material Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $6.5 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management, and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, OH, Battelle oversees 22,000 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories that Battelle manages or co-manages for the US Department of Energy and the US Department of Homeland Security and a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom.