European Patent Office grants patent for Hovione Xcaps

Published: 12-Sep-2013

The dry powder inhaler has the versatility to treat almost all pulmonary diseases

Portuguese API manufacturer Hovione has been granted a patent for its Xcaps dry powder inhaler by the European Patent Office.

XCaps is said to combine efficiency in powder dispersion with ease of use. Hovione says lung fractions in excess of 70% have been achieved from a device which only requires two steps to inhalation and has only two components plus a dust cover. It has the versatility to treat almost all pulmonary diseases, including asthma, COPD as well as infection, which typically require large dose delivery.

Hovione is offering XCaps as a part of its inhalation device portfolio, which also includes TwinCaps, developed specifically for an influenza application and licensed to Daiichi Sankyo and Biota. These devices can be integrated with a drug product development programme, allowing business partners to take their candidate drugs from the API stage all the way to the unit dose, with a single partner.

Peter Villax, Vice-President and co-inventor of the device, said: 'Granting of the European Patent on the XCaps inhaler, within 30 months after initial filing, underpins Hovione’s capabilities in innovation and intellectual property management, to design, develop and deliver innovative products.'

'The XCaps addresses a gap for a simple, easy to use, cost effective, multiple use, capsule based inhalation device,' added Gonçalo Andrade, Business Development Manager at Hovione.

'This allows our business partners to take advantage of additional patent protection for their inhalation drug product and effective drug product life cycle management.'

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