Hovione & Zerion Pharma Announce Strategic Partnership

Hovione recently announced a strategic partnership with Zerion Pharma to market and commercialize Dispersome, Zerion’s proprietary solubility enhancement technology platform.

Zerion´s innovative Dispersome technology builds on a new concept of increasing drug solubility by using natural protein-based excipients to formulate APIs into amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) by spray drying. By combining Dispersome technology with Hovione’s unique spray drying capabilities, experience in development, scale-up, and GMP manufacturing, Hovione further strengthens its leadership in amorphous solid dispersions and shows its commitment to innovative solutions to overcome one of the most prevalent challenges faced by the industry: low drug solubility.

“We are extremely pleased to have entered into this partnership with Zerion whom we recognize as a very innovative company in the field of oral drug formulations. By joining forces, Zerion and Hovione will be able to bring Dispersome to the market faster. We look forward to applying the technology in collaboration with our customers and partners in our effort to develop novel drugs with strong benefits to patients,” said Jean-Luc Herbeaux, Hovione’s Chief Operating Officer. “Hovione will continue to pursue opportunities to enhance its offering around core areas of expertise such as particle engineering and inhalation by partnering with companies and research institutions developing innovative drug formulation technologies, like Dispersome.”

Zerion’s CEO, Ole Wiborg, sees a strong synergy in the partnership and expects it to generate new pharma partnerships. “We consider Hovione the global leader in the field of producing amorphous solid dispersions by spray-drying. More importantly for us, this leadership has resulted in Hovione being, over the last 5 years, the main commercial manufacturer of novel FDA-approved drugs formulated as amorphous solid dispersions. Incorporating these competencies in our offering to the pharma industry both validates the strength of our Dispersome platform and provides us and our pharma partners immediate access to the highest quality in upscaling and commercial GMP manufacturing,” says Ole Wiborg.

The announcement of this partnership follows Hovione’s communication on a further expansion with an expected investment of $170 million in assets worldwide and shows the company’s commitment to also expand its technology platforms. Hovione is investing both in new assets and innovative technologies to meet customer demand for integrated and differentiated services in drug substance manufacturing, particle engineering and most recently drug product manufacturing.

Hovione is an international company with over 60 years of experience as a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) with a fully integrated offering of services for drug substance, drug product intermediate and drug product. The company has four FDA inspected sites in the USA, Portugal, Ireland and China and development laboratories in Lisbon, Portugal and New Jersey. Hovione provides pharmaceutical customers services for the development and compliant manufacture of innovative drugs, including highly potent compounds, and customized product solution across the entire drug life cycle. In the inhalation area, Hovione is the only independent company offering a complete range of services, from API, formulation development and devices. Hovione is a company with a culture based on innovation, quality and delivery. Hovione was the first Chemical/ Pharmaceutical company to become a Certified B Corp, is a member of Rx-360, EFCG and participates actively in industry quality improvement initiatives to lead new global industry standards. For more information, visit www.hovione.com.

Zerion has pioneered the Dispersome technology that greatly enhances the solubility of poorly soluble, oral drugs and improves bioavailability and therapeutic outcomes for the patients. The Dispersome technology is based on preparing stable amorphous formulations by mixing high loads of the drug compound with beta-lactoglobulin, a sustainable and biodegradable by-product from cheese production. Zerion develops proprietary drug formulations and offers the Dispersome technology to established pharma companies as a means to solve their most challenging drug solubility problems. Zerion was established in 2019 as a spinout from the University of Copenhagen based on almost a decade of research.