Quotient Clinical and Capsugel have formed a collaboration to enable the rapid development and clinical assessment of lipid-based formulations. The companies will use their technology and expertise to address the drug delivery challenges of poorly soluble molecules with limited oral bioavailability.

The collaboration integrates Quotient’s RapidFACT realtime clinical manufacture and testing service with Capsugel’s lipid-based formulation expertise and manufacturing capability. The collaboration is designed to fast track the effective clinical evaluation of lipid-based drug delivery systems in man, while optimizing  drug product for downstream development. As part of the collaboration, Quotient will utilize Capsugel’s CFS Liquid Capsule Filling and Sealing technology at its facility in Nottingham and will be able to access the formulation expertise in Capsugel’s Development Center in Strasbourg.

Mark Egerton, managing director of Quotient Clinical, said, “The collaboration with Capsugel will help our customers address prevalent drug delivery challenges for poorly soluble compounds in a more effective way. It will further empower our RapidFACT service by ensuring that selected drug products can be rapidly scaled-up and transitioned into downstream development — further reducing timelines to critical development milestones.”

Keith Hutchison, senior vice president of R&D at Capsugel, added, “Our expertise with poorly soluble drugs includes a proprietary predictive modeling technology based on an extensive database of lipid formulations that allows us to find the best formulas quickly.”