Intec Pharma has developed the accordion pill for the delayed release
of drugs.
Gali Weinreb
23 Oct 05 (Globes.online) - Intec Pharma Ltd., which is developing a
method for delayed release of drugs, has signed an agreement with a
US pharmaceutical company to jointly develop a delayed release
treatment for Parkinson's Disease. Intec's technology, called
an "accordion pill", will be added to a treatment for Parkinson's
whose patent is about to expire. Addition of the delayed-release
mechanism will allow Intec and its US partner to register the
treatment under a new patent.
Until now, Intec has not developed its accordion pill for any
particular treatment. The accordion is basically an organic polymer
matrix contianing a drug's active pharmaceutical ingredient (API).
When the pill reaches the stomach, it opens like an accordion, and
cannot pass into the intestine. The stomach gradually absorbs the
matrix, releasing the API in small, fixed doses into the intestine
for optimal absorption by the body.

Intec wants to develop its technology on several tracks. By the end
of 2005, it plans to choose two or three drugs for independent
development, while simultaneously cooperating with established
pharmaceutical companies. By combining the mechanism with APIs
already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and on
the market, Intec is shortening the regulator process from ten years
to three-four years.

The Parkinson's treatment market amounts to $3 billion a year.

Intec is now raising $10 million from Israeli and US venture capital
funds. The company has already raised $4 million from private
investors.