Catalent Pharma Solutions, is investing more than $27 million to commercialize its next-generation oral disintegrating tablet (ODT) technology, Zydis Ultra. The technology allows an increased drug load and taste masking to be incorporated into the company’s Zydis ODT dosage form, which is a freeze-dried tablet that disperses almost instantly in the mouth without water.
 
Zydis Ultra allows an innovative drug coating to be introduced during a product’s formulation, enabling the dosage of active ingredient to be up to four times higher than a conventional Zydis ODT, while maintaining its speed of dispersion and superior mouth feel, according to the company. To date, more than 36 products have been launched using Zydis technology in more than 60 countries. The coating technology significantly expands the range of drug candidates that can be formulated using the Zydis ODT platform, including analgesics, anti-allergy treatments and anti-infectives.
  
“Our team of scientists have been working on the next generation of ODT formulations for several years, to leverage the advantages that the dose form brings to patients in terms of convenience and increased drug compliance,” said Jonathan Arnold, president, Oral Drug Delivery at Catalent. “We have been collaborating with several partners on specific products utilizing the Zydis Ultra technology, and this investment coincides with these development programs reaching proof of concept and full development stages.”
 
Catalent’s 250,000 sq. ft. site in Swindon, U.K. houses the company’s Zydis fast dissolving tablet development and manufacturing operation, which produces more than one billion ODTs annually and employs more than 600 people.