SPI Pharma a fully owned subsidiary of Associated British Foods, and the Functional Additives Division of Asahi Kasei Chemicals (Tokyo, Japan) have agreed to form an alliance in the field of pharmaceutical additives.
Beginning in January 2016, each company will co-market the other’s pharmaceutical additives in the respective markets of the US/Canada and Japan.
SPI Pharma’s product portfolio consists of antacid actives, vaccine adjuvants, taste-masked actives, functional excipients and drug delivery systems.
This agreement is exclusive to include Mannogem® Mannitol for swallow tablets as well as chewable tablets and lozenges; and Pharmaburst® , a coprocessed drug delivery system for orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs).
The pharmaceutical additives business of Asahi Kasei Chemicals is led by Ceolus™, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), and Celphere™ (MCC Beads). The Ceolus product lineup includes highly compactable grades which are suitable for various challenging tablet formulations, while Celphere is used in controlled release applications. The business alliance announced today will leverage the complementary products and sales channels of the two companies for mutual benefit.

Co-Marketing in North America and Japan SPI Pharma will become the exclusive distributor in the US and Canada for specialty grades of Ceolus™ and Celphere™ MCC spherical seed cores for pharmaceutical applications while Asahi Kasei Chemicals will become the exclusive distributor in Japan for Mannogem® Mannitol and Pharmaburst®.
Outlook In addition to developing markets by leveraging the complementary sales networks of SPI Pharma with strength in North America and Europe, and Asahi Kasei Chemicals with a leading position in Japan and Asia, the two companies will explore the development of new products utilizing their respective technological strengths.