Vectura Group Plc
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Vectura is an emerging pharmaceutical company that is developing a range of inhaled drugs for the treatment of lung diseases and conditions where delivery via the lungs can provide significant benefits, such as a rapid onset of action, improved efficacy and improved tolerability compared with current therapies.
Vectura’s strategy is to combine proprietary pulmonary formulation and device technologies developed by the Company with existing, off-patent drugs either for use in new indications or for a new route of administration.
Vectura also actively licenses out its inhalation device and formulation technologies for product applications for other pharmaceutical companies and operates a well-established contract pharmaceutical development service with many years experience of successful product development.
Company History
Vectura was formed in 1997 to focus on areas within the pharmaceutical industry where innovations in the delivery of drugs offered opportunities for the development of innovative products and services.
In 1999, the Company acquired two centres of expertise in these areas; Co-ordinated Drug Development Limited (established in 1983), that was owned by a group of six eminent UK academic pharmaceutical scientists, and the Centre for Drug Formulation Studies, that had been established at the University of Bath since 1974. These two acquisitions provided a broad base of formulation expertise (focused primarily on drugs for inhalation), an extensive intellectual property estate (including a number of novel delivery technologies), an established development services business and a talented team of scientists.
In early 2002, Vectura acquired the Aspirair® inhaler technology and the associated device engineering team from Cambridge Consultants Ltd. Over the last few years, the focus on Vectura’s activities has increasingly been on the development of its own pharmaceutical products.
Company Strategy
Focus on inhalation
Vectura believes that inhalation represents an attractive, rapid and patient friendly route for the delivery of systemically acting drugs, as well as for drugs that are designed to act locally on the lungs themselves.
Apply proprietary technologies to existing drugs
Vectura has filed patent applications on a range of innovative technologies for delivering drugs to the lungs in a predictable and reproducible manner. The Company seeks to apply these technologies to drugs that have already been approved in at least one of the world’s major pharmaceutical markets, either in a new indication and/or for a new route of administration. In this way, the Company believes it can secure patent protection for its products while benefiting from a lower risk of failure than is associated with the development of new drug compounds.
Develop locally-acting and systemically-acting products
Vectura is developing products for local treatment of pulmonary diseases, such as asthma, COPD and cystic fibrosis, and for the systemic treatment of conditions such as Male Erectile Dysfunction, Premature Ejaculation, and Female Sexual Dysfunction, where the use of the pulmonary route of delivery offers important advantages in terms of speed of onset of action.
License out to partners for late-stage development and commercialization
Vectura’s strategy is to seek to license its products to larger pharmaceutical companies, with greater financial resources and existing substantial commercial infrastructures, for the later stages of development and for commercialisation. The Company anticipates seeking such licensees once significant proof of principle has been established, typically once Phase II trials have been completed.
Generate cash flows from technology licensing and fee-for-service activities
Vectura operates a well-established contract Pharmaceutical Development Service business, Vectura PDS. It also actively looks to license its technologies to other companies. Vectura’s strategy is to invest the positive cash flows generated by these activities in the development of its own product portfolio.
Main contact addresses:
Vectura Group plc
1 Prospect West
Chippenham
Wiltshire UK
SN14 6FH
Tel: +44 (0)1249 667700
Fax: +44 (0)1249 667701
Web: www.Vectura.com
