Nichols Martin
The departments of Defense and Health and Human Services have awarded On Demand Pharmaceuticals a $20M contract to develop a ‘pharmacy on demand’ system for manufacturing drug product components.
ODP will use the funds to mature its technology as the U.S. government looks to increase domestic production of active pharmaceutical ingredients that are often sourced from overseas suppliers, DoD said Monday.
The department noted that three specific APIs are essential for the treatment of COVID-19 patients and severely ill warfighters in the country.
The company originally developed the API production technology under an agreement with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA will also oversee work under the new contract.
The effort will use funds from HHS under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security or CARES Act.
ODP's PoD technology is a refrigerator-sized production machine that manufactures APIs and medicines on-demand via synthetic chemical processes.
