PowderJect - Boeh Mannheim In $15 Million Collaboration

PowderJect Pharmaceuticals, a UK biotechnology company, has signed anagreement with Germany's Boeringer Mannheim worth up to L9.4 million ($15 million) to collaborate on the testing, development and commercialization of its unnamed new product which combines an important therapeutic protein with a needleless injection of powdered drugs (Marketletter May 26).

Under the terms of the agreement, BM will pay an initial upfront sum followed by development fees, milestone payments and equity investments, for which it acquires worldwide rights to the resulting product. The group will be responsible for managing all regulatory issues as well as clinical trials.

PowderJect's role involves product development and supplying devices for clinical evaluation and commercial launch, with the company receiving royalties once the product goes on sale. Commenting on the deal, company president Paul Drayson said: "the agreement provides further commercial validation of PowderJect's novel delivery technology."