Nanoform and Orion Collaborate on Next-generation Drug Development

HELSINKI, March 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nanoform, an innovative nanoparticle medicine enabling company, and Orion Corporation, a Finnish pharmaceutical company, today announced a collaboration to apply Nanoform's award-winning CESS® technology to new chemical entities. Building on an existing relationship, this collaboration will utilize Nanoform's proprietary CESS® technology to improve the bioavailability and solubility of selected early-development compounds, increasing the likelihood of drugs entering clinical development.

Many new chemical entities struggle to progress into clinical development due to their physico-chemical properties and respective solubility and bioavailability challenges. This issue is expected to exacerbate as molecular complexity increases in drug discovery. APIs nanoformedTM using the CESS® process have shown promise for overcoming this challenge by increasing the powder dissolution and even intrinsic solubility of the compounds.

As a company that covers the entire life-cycle from research and development, to commercial manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, Orion is continuously developing new drugs and treatment methods. This collaboration with Nanoform presents an opportunity to enhance the company's formulation process and provide poorly soluble molecules with a path to clinical trials.

"We are delighted to continue our relationship with Orion and we look forward to creating a successful partnership between our companies. Orion has a long and successful  pharmaceutical history and is keen to evaluate new innovations. Together we look forward to combined success," said Prof. Edward Hæggström, CEO of Nanoform.

"We have known Nanoform for many years - in its early days before the company considered acquiring GMP status we collaborated by providing a drug development perspective on this promising technology on a small scale. Materials science and particle engineering are vital to the success of pharmaceutical development and by utilising nanoparticles in the range that Nanoform can produce we see great opportunity to simplify the formulation process, develop optimal products, and enable poorly soluble molecules to progress into clinic. Producing tailored nanoparticles smaller than 200nm from solution, in a controlled and reproducible manner, with good yield and without the need for excipients is challenging to do by current pharmaceutical manufacturing techniques or processes. Now that Nanoform has a path to clinical development with their upcoming GMP facility we are excited to see how they can add value to Orion's drug development products," said Dr. Juha Kiesvaara, VP Global Pharmaceutical Research at Orion Corporation.

For further information, please contact:
Prof. Edward Hæggström, CEO
edward.haeggstrom@nanoform.com / +358 29 415 0684

For investor relations queries, please contact:
Henri von Haartman, Director of Investor Relations
hvh@nanoform.com / +46-7686-650-11

About Nanoform
Nanoform is an innovative nanoparticle medicine enabling company. Nanoform works together with pharma and biotech partners globally to reduce clinical attrition and enhance their molecules formulation performance through its best-in-class nanoforming™ services. The company's multi-patented and scalable Controlled Expansion of Supercritical Solutions (CESS®) technology produces nanoformed™ "designed-for-purpose" API particles, as small as 10nm. This enables poorly soluble molecules in the pharmaceutical pipeline to progress into clinical development by increasing their rate of dissolution and improving their bioavailability. Nanoform's unique nanoforming™ technology provides novel opportunities in diverse value enhancing drug delivery applications.

For more information please visit http://www.nanoform.com

About Orion
Orion is a globally operating Finnish pharmaceutical company - a builder of well-being. Orion develops, manufactures and markets human and veterinary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The company is continuously developing new drugs and treatment methods. The core therapy areas of Orion's pharmaceutical R&D are central nervous system (CNS) disorders, oncology, Finnish heritage rare diseases and respiratory diseases for which Orion develops inhaled Easyhaler® pulmonary drugs. Orion's net sales in 2019 amounted to EUR 1,051 million and the company had about 3,300 employees at the end of the year. Orion's A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.

For more information please visit https://www.orion.fi/

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SOURCE Nanoform