Peptide technology
Peptide-based drugs are at the heart of Ferring's R&D activities and the history of the company. In the human body, peptides along with hormones and proteins control various biological processes such as autocrine, paracrine and endocrine functions. Peptides are valuable tools in drug design and discovery because they provide a link between a gene and its function.
At the heart of Ferring's work with peptide technology are amino-acids, the building blocks of life, developed and optimised by nature over billions of years to build proteins, receptors and peptide hormones.
Ferring's peptide technology and know-how combines naturally-occurring, DNA-coded, amino acids with large collections of proprietary synthetic amino acids to "improve on nature" by overcoming the typical limitations of endogenous peptides and hormones, primarily pleiotropic and short-lived actions.
The resulting "drug-like" molecules retain the key advantages of naturally-occurring peptides and hormones (high potency, high efficacy and high safety), while offering improved pharmacodynamics (receptor and function selectivity), pharmacokinetics (enzymatic stability, clearance, half-life and duration of action) and pharmaceutical properties (solubility and stability).
Recombinant protein and biologics
In addition to peptides, Ferring is also specialised in researching and developing biotechnology-derived medicines, such as recombinant proteins and other biologics.
Drug delivery
Drug delivery is the mean by which the treatment is administered to the patient. Drug delivery principles are traditionally described as parenteral and oral.
The preferred delivery principle for patients is the oral route. However, the nature of the drug often makes it impossible so that a parenteral formulation principle has to be chosen. Parenteral delivery systems can be classified in different ways, but are typically divided into sterile (e.g. injectables) and non-sterile products (e.g. rectal, vaginal, transdermal or nasal formulations).
Ferring's fundamental principle is to develop drug delivery systems offering the most patient-friendly dosage form possible with regards to ease of administration and convenience.
Ferring innovations
- For patients undergoing long term treatment, Ferring has developed technologies to exert a controlled release, for example micro-encapsulation or a self-forming depot.
- Small volume parenteral development will often include development of a suitable injection device.
Ferring has expanded further into not only needle free devices, but also specific trans-dermal delivery technologies to ease convenience and user friendliness for the patient.
