Irish/Swiss tie-up in drug delivery

Collaboration agreed

Merrion Pharmaceuticals plc of Dublin, Ireland agreed a collaboration with Ferring Pharmaceuticals SA to apply Merrion’s GIPET technology to significantly boost the oral bioavailability of an undisclosed Ferring compound.

‘We believe there [will] be a substantial benefit to patients in having an oral formulation of this compound, and our GIPET technology has shown the ability to significantly improve the oral delivery of similar drugs,” said John Lynch, Merrion’s CEO.

In more than 20 clinical studies, GIPET technology has been shown to improve the oral absorption of a wide range of drugs, by up to 46 times. Drugs studied ranged from small molecules to small proteins.

Merrion itself has four products in development, and several collaboration agreements with pharmaceutical partners, using this technology.

Merrion was established in 2004 to commercialise various technologies acquired from Elan Corporation, plc. The company is based at Trinity College Dublin.