Nanotechnology company Liquidia Technologies plans to form a new ophthalmology company with an experimental glaucoma treatment expected to start clinical trials in 2014.
Morrisville-based Liquidia said today that the new company would be able to advance Liquidia’s efforts to create products in ophthalmology and other therapeutic areas while also maximizing the return for the company’s investors. WRAL Tech Wire reported in February that Liquidia was considering spinning out one or more companies this year.
Liquidia offered few other details in today’s announcement, other than to say it would have more information later in the second quarter. In a statement, CEO Neal Fowler said that the structure for creating and financing the new company will be considered for other assets and therapeutic areas.
Liquidia’s proprietary “PRINT” technology enables a nanoparticle manufacturer to control the size and shape of the nanoparticles. Changing the size and shape of a nanoparticle can improve drug delivery and reduce side effects. Vaccines were Liquidia’s first target, a pursuit that GlaxoSmithKline liked enough to strike a licensing deal that gave GSK exclusive rights to develop new vaccines with the technology.
Liquidia said in today’s announcement that it independent from the new ophthalmology business, Liquidia will continue to focus on vaccine and pulmonary product development, including the work that has already begun under the GSK partnership.
Liquidia’s technology is a platform technology that has medical as well as consumer product applications. Fowler has acknowledged a partnership with Proctor & Gamble (NYSE:PG). In February, Fowler said that Liquidia’s PRINT technology can be used to make nanoparticles that improve how a product is delivered to the skin. At the time, he said an ophthalmology company could be spun out first, followed by a consumer product with P&G.
