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Homegrown specialty pharmaceutical company iX Biopharma Ltd. (iX Biopharma) is announced that the company has been granted a patent in South Africa (no. 2014/00310) for its WaferiX drug delivery technology. The patent will expire on 26 October 2030.
WaferiX is a fast-dissolving, proprietary wafer formulation that allows pharmacologically active compounds, such as ketamine and sildenafil, to be administered sublingually (i.e., placed under the tongue) and delivered safely, conveniently and rapidly into the blood stream.
The WaferiX technology offers a non-invasive, pain-free alternative to traditional routes of drug administration such as intravenous drips, injections and oral intake. Key advantages of WaferiX include the reduction of the effect of first-pass metabolism, rapid onset of action, better side effect profile, easy administration, improved patient compliance and a better storage profile.
iX Biopharma’s pipeline of products under development includes Wafermine and BnoX for pain management and PheoniX for erectile dysfunction. The market size for analgesics (drugs for pain management) in South Africa was approximately R2.9 billion (approximately S$289 million) in 2015, according to Euromonitor International.
The grant of the South African patent comes close on the heels of the Canadian patent received last month and marks another milestone for iX Biopharma. To date, the Group has secured patents in nine countries, including Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Canada.
