Nanopharm, an Aptar Pharma company and provider of contract research and development services for orally inhaled and nasal drug products (OINDPs), entered a collaboration with Fluidda, a company in the field of Functional Respiratory Imaging. The companies will leverage their respective proprietary technology platforms to help accelerate U.S. FDA approvals for orally inhaled generic products (OIDPs) via the alternative bioequivalence pathway. Nanopharm was acquired by Aptar in 2019, as part of the company’s strategy to expand its services offerings and partner with pharmaceutical companies earlier in the drug development process.

Nanopharm has pioneered the development of the alternative bioequivalence regulatory pathway for U.S. FDA approval of generic OIDPs for Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) using its proprietary in vitro and in silico service platform, SmartTrack. Fluidda’s proprietary in silico platform FRI (Functional Respiratory Imaging) delivers quantitative predictions of regional drug deposition in disease state lungs using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The FRI platform provides critical information to help understand the availability and activity of the drug at the site of action in the lungs, when complemented by Nanopharm’s local lung physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model platform and its in vitro data.

This novel approach is intended to allow pharma companies to file Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) dossiers without the need to perform time-consuming, costly and often unpredictable clinical end-point studies. Similarly, it can support 505(b)(2) filings, by de-risking and abbreviating clinical studies.

“We are pleased to solidify our relationship with Fluidda and its world-leading FRI technology,” said Jag Shur, vice president, science and technology at Nanopharm. “A company would have to spend several years to achieve the current combined expertise and experience of Nanopharm and Fluidda. The collaboration between Nanopharm and Fluidda has the potential to revolutionize this arduous regulatory pathway.”

Having already worked together closely for a number of years, Nanopharm and Fluidda have gained insight into the complex and evolving regulatory requirements. This collaboration deepens the relationship between Fluidda and Nanopharm, benefiting both patients and customers with an uncompromised and holistic approach in developing the scientific rationale to demonstrate bioequivalence using only in vitro and in silico methodologies. The first potential approval of an OIDP using the alternative bioequivalence approach is pending, and, when approved, will further validate Nanopharm’s SmartTrack as the go-to solution for alternative bioequivalence studies and should accelerate demand for the companies’ collective services.

With momentum building for the transition to new lower global warming potential (GWP) propellants for pMDIs, SmartTrack will also help companies to understand and modulate the impact of these new propellants on drug deposition and dissolution in the lungs, giving confidence in the performance of the reformulated product before embarking on any necessary clinical studies.

Dr. Jan de Backer, CEO of Fluidda, said, “Fluidda has already demonstrated the applicability of its FRI platform to provide more objective data for evaluating and administering inhaled drug products accurately. Nanopharm’s unique SmartTrack platform provides us with clinically-relevant input data without having to actually go into the clinic, which really adds another level of confidence to the models, and provides an integrated perspective.”

Guillaume Brouet, vice president analytical, regulatory and scientific affairs at Aptar Pharma, said, “Aptar Pharma is delighted to collaborate with Fluidda on this important development, which reinforces our mission to help customers de-risk and accelerate their drug product development programs.”