Aptar Pharma has deemed now the perfect time to exercise their option to purchase an inventive piece of Pharmaxis’ (ASX: PXS) technology.

In August, 2021 Aptar signed an exclusive option agreement to Pharmaxis’ “Orbital” technology, handing over USD $250,000. Now, a little under a year later, Aptar is deploying USD $2.5 million to exercise the option, and a further USD $2.5 million to acquire the unique device outright (approx AUD $7.1m). 

The Orbital Inhaler was developed as an efficient platform to deliver Pharmaxis’ cystic fibrosis drug, Bronchitol® (mannitol). The drug is designed to assist with the clearing of mucus from the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis, thereby improving lung function. 

The Orbital Inhaler was devised to deliver large amounts of the drug to patients in one go, rather than inhaling the therapeutic dose of ten separate 40mg Bronchitol capsules twice daily.

Developed in conjunction with PA Consulting, the device offers an improvement in patient convenience, removing the need to reload capsules, making the process of taking medication simpler and leading to higher compliance. 

Specialists in drug delivery devices, Aptar have been eyeing the Orbital Inhaler as a method of delivering high doses of other drugs for a myriad of respiratory diseases. 

The licensing agreement will see Pharmaxis retain the rights to the device to deliver mannitol.

Recognised within the medical research community as a leader in the field of antifibrotic medicine, this transaction supplies Pharmaxis with financial support for their big ticket assets PXS-5505, currently in trials for multiple cancers, and PXS-6302, a topical drug in trials to melt away skin scars. 

As well as Bronchitol, the Company also developed Aridol® (mannitol) , a lung function test that is the standard of care in many clinical best practice guidelines across the globe. 

The non-dilutive cash that the Pharmaxis owned respiratory ‘ecosystem’ generates is unique for a small cap biotech company, and is a testament to the Company’s capability and strategy in funding its exciting clinical stage drugs. 

“I am delighted that Aptar Pharma, who are one of the world’s foremost drug delivery device companies, have seen the potential in the Orbital technology,” said Pharmaxis CEO Gary Phillips.

 “We look forward to them building on the technical evaluations carried out during the option period and delivering new product solutions that can benefit drug developers and patients. Today’s announcement is a further example of our strategy to generate non-dilutive cash from the mannitol respiratory business.”

The mannitol respiratory division broke even for the nine months to 31 March 2022. Pharmaxis expects the division to become EBITDA positive in FY23. 

When this $7.1m from Aptar is added to Pharmaxis $9m cash on hand at June 2022 and the expected 2022 R&D tax credit of $4.9 million expected in H2 2022 the company has a total of $21 million available to fund its clinical trials.

Emerald Financial released an Analyst Report on Pharmaxis in July 2022 which can be accessed here.