EURAND, GSK ENTER INTO LICENSE AGREEMENT

Italian drug-delivery firm Eurand announced that it has entered into a development and license agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) whereby Eurand will use its Microcaps taste-masking technology and AdvaTab oral disintegration tablet technologies to develop a new formulation of an undisclosed GSK product.

Under the terms of the agreement, GSK will fund the development of the product and Eurand will receive royalties on product sales. GSK will have exclusive rights in the United States to commercialize the new product, and GSK and Eurand each have certain rights to commercialize the product outside of the United States. Eurand will retain exclusive, worldwide manufacturing rights. The companies expect to begin clinical trials in 2006 and apply for marketing authorization in the United States by the end of 2007.

GSK will pay Eurand aggregate payments up to $42 million based on achievement of certain development, regulatory and sales milestones.

Eurand's AdvaTab tablets dissolve rapidly in the mouth within 15 to 30 seconds without chewing or the addition of water, according to the company's website. Microcaps technology uniformly coats drug particles with polymeric membranes to create an inert barrier between the drug and taste buds.