Catalent Boosts Production of ALK-Abelló Products

Somerset, NJ (Aug. 28)-Catalent Pharma Solutions and Danish pharmaceutical company ALK-Abelló (Hørsholm, Denmark) will substantially increase Catalent’s “Zydis” oral-dissolving tablet production capacity dedicated to ALK-Abelló’s immunotherapy products.

According to the companies’ agreement, ALK-Abelló will fund a new production line for current and future tablet-based allergy products. The new production line will be located at Catalent’s Swindon, United Kingdom, facility. The companies expect commercial production to begin on the new line in 2010.

ALK-Abelló’s recently launched “GRAZAX” tablet-based vaccine against grass pollen allergy uses Catalent’s Zydis oral-dissolving tablet technology. Catalent manufactures the Zydis formulation of the GRAZAX vaccine at its Swindon facility.

In a company press release, Thomas Stuart, Catalent’s group president of oral technologies, remarked, “We are pleased to have reached this next important step in our relationship with ALK-Abelló, which began more than four years ago. The clinical success of GRAZAX demonstrates that protein-based products such as allergens can be taken orally by patients rather than via injection, and we believe Zydis provides unique advantages to deliver these and other types of novel compounds. We look forward to supporting the further success of GRAZAX and additional ALK-Abelló immunotherapy products.”

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Catalent to provide important new production capacity, which we believe will be required to meet the expected future demand for our tablet-based allergy vaccines,” said Jens Bager, President and CEO of ALK-Abelló, in a press release. “We appreciate the consistent performance and dedication of the Catalent team in Swindon, and the valuable contribution the team and the Zydis technology is making to our product.”

Catalent provides dosage-form delivery technologies to the pharmaceutical industry. Patients can swallow Zydis without water, and it typically dissolves in the mouth in less than three seconds. Catalent designed Zydis to increase patient and consumer convenience, enhance drug performance, and improve patient compliance. The company recently established commercial-scale Zydis production in New Jersey, in addition to its Swindon facility.