From Needle to Pill: Reformulating Injectable Drugs for Oral Delivery

Most biologicals and some small-molecule drugs are best administered through injections. Although this delivery route has its advantages, economic considerations, side effects, and practical concerns could dissuade some patients from maintaining full compliance with a parenteral-drug regime. Technological advances now make it possible to reformulate some injectable drugs for administration through other delivery routes.

One company pursuing this goal is formulation specialist Merrion Pharmaceuticals (Dublin), which develops improved tablet and capsule dosage forms of drugs with poor bioavailability, including injectable and intravenous forms. Merrion uses an oral drug-delivery technique called Gastrointestinal Permeation Enhancement Technology (GIPET) to produce oral formulations (i.e., tablets or capsules) of drugs that are now only given parenterally. The company acquired GIPET from drug developer and manufacturer Élan (Dublin) in 2003, when the latter company refocused its activities. The technology can be applied to a wide range of compounds with various physiochemical properties and molecular weights, including traditional small molecules and biopharmaceutical peptides and proteins.