Halo Pharma has taken a minority ownership position in the drug formulation and development company Altus Formulation Inc. Altus uses proprietary technologies and approaches to solve pharmaceutical formulation and delivery problems. The companies have established a formal collaboration in conjunction with the investment.

Halo has been focused on development and manufacturing services, and will continue to offer “practical facilitation and implementation of non-proprietary and client-based solutions to scientific and technical challenges,” according to a press statement. These areas include pre-formulation, analytical method development, formulation, scale-up, regulatory submission and commercial manufacturing.

The pact with Altus Formulations is intended to give Halo its first step in offering a full suite of proprietary scientific and technical solutions in such areas as drug solubility, bioavailability, tamper- and abuse deterrence, and precisely managed drug dosage delivery.

Clive Bennett, Halo’s chief executive officer, commented, “We are delighted to have this new association with Altus as it will allow Halo to provide novel proprietary solutions to clients with difficult formulation problems in addition to those already available public domain and client-originated solutions that we have historically offered.”

Damon Smith, chief executive officer at Altus Formulation, remarked, “The Altus team is extremely excited to be collaborating with Halo Pharma with their track record of excellence in the contract development and manufacturing fields. By combining our strengths Altus and Halo offer a full range of development and delivery options that are ideally placed to meet the needs of the industry.”