BioProgress delivers Xgel Tabwrap machines

BioProgress plc, a provider of innovative delivery mechanisms for the pharmaceutical oral dosage markets based in March, UK, has delivered the first two machines of its new innovative Xgel Tabwrap technology.

The first machine has been delivered to a major global pharmaceutical company in the US with which BioProgress has had a long standing relationship, and the second machine has been delivered to Peter Black Healthcare in the UK. Peter Black is one of Europe's leading contract pharmaceutical and supplement manufacturers.

These first machines are small-scale pilot versions of the full size Xgel Tabwrap systems which are currently being designed and built. The pilot scale machines are fully representative of the Tabwrap technology and can generate the validating product performance and stability data, which is required for new pharmaceutical products. This will enable the customers to commence new product development immediately in the Tabwrap technology and, in the case of Peter Black, win new customers.

Tabwrap is a customer led technology designed to replace the old methods of slow batch based tablet coating with a new fast continuous process which wraps the preformed tablets in BioProgress' proprietary coloured cellulose based film.

Graham Hind, chief executive of BioProgress, said: 'There has been relatively little innovation in the tablet making process for a number of years. The market opportunity for the Tabwrap technology is enormous. For example, the most commonly used class of medication world-wide is analgesics and there are around 70m prescriptions and 30bn otc tablets sold in this category alone annually in the US.

'Our Tabwrap technology offers a number of major advantages. It provides a fast track new product development opportunity. It meets the industry desire to replace animal derived materials like gelatin. It can produce a two-colour tablet not possible using traditional tablet spray coating techniques. It can improve product shelf life, and by manipulating the film wrap formulation, it is possible to release the active in the tablet into the body at a faster rate. Most importantly these advantages are achieved at reduced production costs for the customer.'

Alan Clements, md of Peter Black Healthcare, said: 'Peter Black is delighted to be the first company in Europe to be able to offer our customers new product development opportunities in the new Tabwrap technology. Tablets manufacture is an important part of our business; we make more than thirty million tablets every week. As a company we are committed to innovation and the adoption of the latest technology to enhance and add value to our customer service.

'We believe that BioProgress Tabwrap will enable us to develop innovative products for our customers. There was an encouraging level of initial interest in the Tabwrap concept and, now we have a pilot scale Tabwrap machine at Peter Black, we can actively offer our customers the benefits of this exciting new technology.'

BioProgress' products

Xgel Tabwrap is one of four new dosage forms BioProgress is developing under the Xgel family of products. These include: - Swallow, a new non-gelatin liquid filled capsule process; - Nrobe, a new powder delivery dosage form, and; - Septum, a new dosage form which enables the encapsulation of two non-compatible active ingredients in the same shell, delivering each at a different time or site in the body.