Quotient Clinical, a business unit of Quotient Bioresearch (Quotient), today announced an agreement with UK-based biotech, Phico Therapeutics (Phico). Quotient will undertake a RapidFACT^TM program to optimise nasal delivery of Phico's SASPject^TM PT1.2, an antibiotic protein technology that offers a new approach for the treatment of serious life-threatening bacterial infections, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). 

RapidFACT will be used to screen alternative formulations designed to enhance nasal delivery, retention, and efficacy of SASPject in intranasal S. aureus carriers. RapidFACT exploits Quotient's Translational Pharmaceutics^TM platform to enable the rapid clinical screening and optimisation of drug products. Compared to conventional development processes, RapidFACT shortens project timelines and reduces active ingredient consumption by up to ~90 per cent, all of which combine to deliver significant cost savings. This is the first time that RapidFACT has been used to optimise nasal delivery, and is also the first time that it has employed a pharmacodynamics endpoint to guide formulation development. 

Mark Egerton, MD of Quotient Clinical, commented:  "We are delighted to be working with Phico on the SASPject technology. RapidFACT has been used on a wide variety of oral products and this is the first example of its use on a nasal product, demonstrating RapidFACT's broad utility. It is also pleasing that we have been able to integrate Quotient's specialist microbiological services into this project. We are looking forward to delivering an optimised drug product for the next stages of development, and helping Phico to accelerate its novel approach into patient studies."

Dr Heather Fairhead, CEO of Phico commented: "This will be the second trial we have conducted with Quotient Clinical and we are very pleased to be working with the Quotient team again.  We expect to benefit once more from their professional and helpful approach and the use of RapidFACT for this application is an added bonus which should save Phico time and money at this critical stage of clinical development with SASPject PT1.2."

For more information on Quotient Clinical, please call UK +44 (0)115 974 9000, USA - 1-800-769-3518, email clinical@quotientbioresearch.com or visit www.quotientbioresearch.com/clinical.