Patheon Adds Soft Gel Capsule Capabilities Through New Partnership

Patheon and PROCAPS S.A. recently announced an agreement to provide the pharmaceutical industry a new world-class line of prescription pharmaceutical soft-gel product development and manufacturing services. The offering will be branded as P-Gels soft gels, and the partnership will give Patheon rights to market PROCAPS’ soft gel technology and manufacturing capabilities in North America, Europe, and Asia.

“This exclusive agreement is part of our recently announced strategy to strengthen our core operations and product offerings,” said Jim Mullen, Patheon’s CEO. “By combining PROCAPS’ manufacturing capabilities and proprietary technology with our global experience, reach, and customer service, we are positioned to provide our customers royalty-free soft gel capsule solutions for their products.”

“PROCAPS is pleased to enter into this agreement with Patheon, one of the leading providers of contract development and manufacturing services in the world,” added Ruben Minski, PROCAPS CEO. “This partnership truly provides us with a great opportunity to leverage our quality soft gel capabilities across the globe through Patheon’s customers and beyond.”

“The addition of commercial-scale soft gel capacity to our full offering of dosage forms, which includes parenteral, solid, and liquid technologies, creates a more comprehensive array of options for our clients,” explained Michael Lytton, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy & General Counsel. “Soft gel oral drug delivery offers many advantages to some of the more challenging compounds being developed by the pharmaceutical industry today, and the collaboration with PROCAPS builds on Patheon’s successful SoluPath solution set for compounds with solubility challenges. We look forward to partnering with our current and future customers to provide them with P-Gels soft gel capability.”

The capabilities Patheon gains via the P-Gels offering include large-scale commercial supply of prescription soft gel capsules for the North American, European, and Asian markets. PROCAPS is an established, multinational company with over 3,000 employees and rich history of providing quality products in food supplements, as well as OTC and Rx pharmaceuticals. PROCAPS has been developing and manufacturing soft gel capsules since 1977 and currently has capacity to manufacture up to 9 billion capsules per year.

The soft gel dosage form provides important advantages for drug delivery and consumer experience. It offers rapid and consistent absorption of drugs and consistent delivery of highly potent drugs that require small dosages. In many cases, soft gels can be used to improve the solubility of drugs that pose bioavailability challenges. Consumer advantages include reliable delivery, taste-masking, ease of swallowing, and rapid onset. Patient feedback surveys consistently rate soft gels as the preferred dosage form.