FOURNIER MAKES MOVE ON INTERNATIONAL STAGE

French pharmaceutical company Laboratoires Fournier has made a strategic move into the US market through an agreement with Salt Lake City-based company Iomed. The two companies are to collaborate on R&D that will be a diversification for Fournier, taking it into the transdermal patch market.

Iomed and Fournier will develop iontophoretic drug delivery systems for systemic administration of a variety of drugs, say the two companies. The systems they will develop will be wearable, battery-powered, mini-integrated patches with complete microprocessor control. Worldwide marketing rights will be shared, and each company will have the ability to enter into marketing agreements with other companies should they wish to do so.

Fournier says that iontophoresis is an active method of transdermal drug delivery. It uses low-level electrical current to enhance the transport of ionic drugs into and through the skin, and has the potential for delivery of peptides as well as traditional drugs. Since the transport is directly proportional to the current, iontophoresis is capable of being completely programmable while remaining non-invasive, unlike any other drug delivery method, according to Fournier.