Tuesday 8 February 2011

Molecular Profiles installs Xcelodose system

Molecular Profiles, a pharmaceutical development service provider, announces the continued expansion of its manufacturing capabilities with the recent purchase of the Xcelodose 120S system. The purchase of the unique system reflects the company's broader mission to expand the breadth and flexibility of its service offerings, having recently introduced its manufacturing capabilities for phase I and IIa studies, as well as enhancing the company's expertise with difficult-to-formulate small molecules.

Molecular Profiles is one of just a handful of contract development and manufacturing organizations to offer the Xcelodose as part of its services. The company's investment in the system was a strategic manoeuvre intended to strengthen its existing expertise in the niche field of difficult-to-handle molecules. Customers of Molecular Profiles will benefit significantly from the installation of the Xcelodose 120S, with considerable time-scale reductions for taking drugs to clinic.
Xcelodose is a precision powder micro-doser that can accurately fill capsules or vials with just the drug material alone and therefore requires no initial formulation development, allowing rapid progress to the clinic. As a result, customers can benefit from a shorter drug development process by reducing the need for expensive and time-consuming stability studies. This in turn, reduces the time taken to reach the 'first in human' clinical trial decision point, which facilitates a significant increase in throughput of candidate compounds for development. In addition to dramatic time-frame reduction, the system offers highly consistent dose accuracy and operates with generation of very little waste. The Xcelodose provides the capability to dose quantities as small as 100µg into capsules or vials, which is not possible by manual weighing. The system can be easily contained to prevent operator exposure. This is particularly valuable for supporting the development of drugs which are highly potent and toxic, such as oncology drugs.

Dr Robert Harris, Director of Early Development at Molecular Profiles comments: "With oncology now one of the largest growth sectors for new drug candidates, we made a strategic decision to invest in a system that greatly facilitates the safety and efficiency of developing new oncology drugs, though the Xcelodose could also be of immense value in development of drugs in other categories. The purchase of the Xcelodose is the first of a host of other investments and technologies that fit into Molecular Profiles' mission to offer as versatile and flexible an array of tools and services as possible. With our broad range of services and continued investment in innovative technology we now cater to every eventuality with regard to developing early stage compounds."

Molecular Profiles