inVentiv Health And Aprecia Partner To Market Aprecia's ZipDose

Life science knowledge and services company inVentiv Health and specialty pharmaceutical company Aprecia announced the start of their collaboration to market Aprecia’s technology platform and introductory pharmaceutical products.

Aprecia has teamed up with inVentiv to commercialize the ZipDose product platform, which uses three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology to manufacture fast-melt products, intended to make drugs easier to administer and swallow. The company has finished clinical work for the technology and is planning to file its first New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the second half of 2014.

“Getting medicine into the human body reliably and accurately is both a challenge and an enormous opportunity. To realize the potential of our technology and move quickly into market, we sought a partner that could execute every phase and function in commercialization…” said Don Wetherhold, CEO of Aprecia. Wetherhold added that the company looks forward to rapid introduction of the ZipDose technology to the market while keeping its proprietary products under control with the help of inVentiv’s extensive marketing services.

inVentiv Health has been involved in the direct development and/or marketing of 60 percent of drugs approved by the FDA in the last five years. inVentiv is the industry’s only full commercialization outsourcing organization.

Michael Griffith, Executive Vice President of inVentiv Health, said that his company provides an outsourcing model for an all-inclusive marketing and sales strategy. “We are pleased to have entered into this agreement with Aprecia and are looking forward to introducing their …technology platform and their much-needed products…” said Griffith.

Under the terms of the new agreement, inVentiv will provide advertising, public relations, adherence services, sales teams and sales training, strategic and tactical market access services, non-personal promotion, and full management of marketing teams to launch ZipDose and other Aprecia assets. In return, the company will be entitled to a negotiated royalty from future sales of Aprecia’s products.