As pharmaceutical companies seek to fine-tune drug delivery for greater convenience and patient compliance, Halozyme is looking to leverage its recent acquisitions in this space thanks to a new partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Vertex licenses Halozyme’s Hypercon, a microparticle, highly concentrated formulation technology developed by Electrophi. Last fall, Halozyme paid $750 million in cash to acquire subcutaneous drug delivery company Electrophy.
Vertex will now pay $15 million upfront to leverage Hypercon for use in up to three drug targets, according to an April 7 press release. The companies provided few details about the specific types of treatments the technology will be applied to, with Halozyme CEO Helen Torrey referring in a statement to “next generation biologics that can be delivered to patients in small doses.”
According to Halozyme, Hypercon technology allows drugs and biologics to be “ultra-concentrated,” paving the way to reduce the amount of injections needed for the same dose, and ultimately allowing patients to administer them at home.
Apart from the upfront payment, Halozyme expects to receive potential milestone payments as well as royalties on sales of products developed using its technology platform.
“We are pleased to add Halozyme’s hypercondrug delivery technology to our toolbox as we pursue transformative treatments for patients with serious diseases,” Mark Banage, Vertex’s chief scientific officer, said in a statement Tuesday. “We look forward to exploring the full potential of this technology across our programs of interest.”
Harozyme and Electrophy were both prominent companies in the subcutaneous drug delivery game when the former announced it would acquire the latter on October 1, 2025. After Hypercon attracted interest from the likes of Argenx, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson, Halozyme swooped in on Electrophi.
Hypercon fits well with Halozyme’s proprietary Enhanze platform and is useful for developing subcutaneous formulations of high-dose drugs that are often administered in settings such as the clinic. Electrophy’s technology, on the other hand, allows the drug to be administered in smaller doses and has more potential for home administration, Harozyme’s Torrey said of the acquisition last year.
Beyond Halozyme and Elektrofi, other drug delivery experts continue to lasso business from developers hoping to move experimental and approved treatments beyond IVs.
Last month, Biogen announced it would pay South Korea’s Arteogen $20 million upfront to help develop sub-Q formulations of two unnamed biologics in a deal centered on Arteogen’s Hybrozyme technology and its recombinant human hyaluronidase ALT-B4.
The hyaluronidase enzyme also attracted GSK in another $20 million upfront deal related to the British drugmaker’s checkpoint inhibitor Gemperi. This technology is also at the center of a patent dispute between Halozyme and Merck & Co. over the subcutaneous Keytruda.
