Takeda Pharmaceutical and Portal Instruments will collaborate to develop and commercialize Portal’s needle-free drug delivery service for potential use with Takeda’s investigational and approved therapies, including treatments for ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease.
The needle-free device could potentially be used across a range of biologic medicines that currently require administration through an injection and could be administered by patients themselves at home.
The device works by delivering the medicine through a pressurized liquid rather than a needle. In clinical trials, it has been shown that patients find this technology to be less painful and tend to prefer it over standard needle injections. The technology was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Takeda’s development program for Entyvio (vedolizumab) will be the first to test the viability of the device.
Entyvio is a monoclonal antibody (mAb) approved for the treatment of UC and Crohn’s disease that currently requires administration through intravenous infusion. In both UC and Crohn’s, there is an increased number of pro-inflammatory white blood cells entering the lining of the bowel. Entyvio is designed to reduce the inflammation caused by these cells by blocking their movement into the inflamed gut tissue.
A subcutaneous formulation of Entyvio is currently being investigated for its effectiveness and safety in adults with moderate-to-severe active UC and Crohn’s in a Phase 3 clinical trial program.
“There is a need for options to keep improving the experience for patients with life-long, chronic conditions that are managed with the intravenous infusions of biologic medicines,” Stefan Koenig, global program and brand lead at Takeda, said in a press release.
“This partnership with Portal demonstrates Takeda’s leadership in supporting patients with GI diseases and our commitment to evolve the management of these diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, by potentially offering patients the ability to administer treatment in their own at home with a needle-free system.”
Patrick Anquetil, chief executive officer of Portal, added that “working with Takeda to adapt the Portal device underscores our mission to empower patients with a leading, next-generation drug delivery platform for self-administration that is designed to reduce the pain and anxiety associated with needle injections in addition to reducing administration time.”
As per the terms of the agreement, Takeda will pay up to $100 million to Portal, subject to certain development, regulatory, and sales-based achievements.