Encap Agrees to Colonic Drug Delivery Licensing Deal

Encap Drug Delivery has entered into a licensing agreement with The School of Pharmacy, University of London for the use of their drug delivery system, Phloral.

This coating technology is designed to target the release of drugs to the colon and will form part of a range of colonic delivery systems promoted by the former under the name Encode (Encap Colonic Delivery).

Colonic drug delivery has gained increased importance, not just for treatment of local diseases associated with the colon, eg, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, colorectal cancer and IBS, but also for its potential as a site for the absorption of certain molecules due to the decreased levels of efflux transporters and membrane-bound metabolic enzymes known as cytochromes.

Its potential suitability for the oral delivery of peptides and proteins, oligonucleotides and vaccines is also an area of increasing interest.

Existing colonic systems generally involve coating the dosage unit with polymeric materials that will not normally dissolve in the low pH of the stomach or upper intestine but will dissolve in the higher pH of the lower intestine. Coatings that rely on a pH dependant system have the potential to be unreliable due to the large intra and inter patient variability in transit times and luminal pH. The Phloral technology represents a significant improvement in colonic delivery, providing“fail-safe” delivery of drug to the target site by employing two complimentary mechanisms to trigger drug release. It also incorporates a component which is broken down specifically by the microbiota in the colonic region.

One of the drawbacks to colonic delivery is the relatively low amount of water that is available for dissolution of dosage forms in this part of the gastrointestinal tract. The combination of a reliable colonic targeting technology and the delivery of drugs in a liquid dosage form using Encap’s liquid fill technologies may provide a significant advancement for the delivery of a wide range of drugs to the colon.