How a New Device Could Ease the Pain of Biologics

Portal Instruments, a new medical device startup out of Cambridge, MA, announced a partnership this week with Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda to develop a new needle-free drug delivery device to help treat chronic conditions. The new device has the potential to treat a wide range of conditions that require drugs to be injected through a needle, specifically GI diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The partnership will combine Portal's delivery device with Takeda's investigational or approved biologic medicines. The technology is designed to deliver drugs through the use of a pressurized liquid, which has been clinically shown to be less painful compared to standard needle-based injections. The device comes with a computer-controlled system that automatically adjusts for changes in the drug’s viscosity to deliver a precise 1 ml dose of drugs in just half a second. The device can even be used by patients in their own home, providing patients with a simple solution for self-administered treatments without requiring physician assistance. Portal will receive initial funding from Takeda, with the potential to earn additional payments of up to $100 million subject to the achievement of specified development, regulatory, and sales-based milestones. Portal also plans to utilize Takeda’s R&D team to help introduce the technology to patients and begin to grow the platform. Stefan Koenig, global program and brand lead at Takeda Pharmaceutical, said in a pre...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: R & D Source Type: news