BDD are experts in biopharmaceutics, oral drug formulation, gamma scintigraphy & Phase I clinical trials. An integrated drug delivery development and clinical trials company, BDD Pharma takes the development of new products from white powder through formulation development and clinical testing, all in-house.
“We take API and an exciting new product idea and make it happen, taking it all the way through development to clinical testing and proof of concept,” explains Dr Carol Thomson, CEO of BDD Pharma.
BDD Pharma is no ordinary CRO, however. Where it really comes into its own is in providing technologies for the production and testing of complex delivery profiles.
“Our patented technologies allow clients to produce complex drug release profiles for the most challenging drug products,” Dr Thomson explains.
These technologies include the patented OralogiK™ and CologiK™ delivery platforms, erosion-based, modified release technology that provides unrivalled control of drug release for the creation of unique and complex drug release profiles.
At the same time, BDD Pharma boasts imaging technology that allows it to create a truly accurate picture of what a drug product can do in the human body.
“We can stand people in front of a camera and watch what is happening to your product inside them,” Dr Thomson says. “We make sure it is delivered to where it needs to be, monitoring blood plasma levels to understand how the product is functioning.”
What sets BDD Pharma apart from others in the sector is that its clinical and formulation development arms of the business operate side-by-side, allowing one part of the business to feed data back to the other.
“Frankly, there is no better test of a drug product than to see how it works in the human body, and that is where we excel,” Dr Thomson insists.
Despite these significant capabilities, BDD Pharma is a deliberately agile company.
“We are a smaller company and that enables us to move quickly for our clients,” says Calum Stevens, Commercial Director for BDD Pharma. “We are adaptable, nimble, and responsive in a way that is not possible if you get bogged down in the larger ecosystems of the industry.”
The company’s size also allows for a greater degree of transparency in what it does, giving it room to go above and beyond the assignment.
“We don’t just turn the handle, we apply scientific thinking and rigour to every project and move very quickly on the data we are getting out,” Dr Thomson says. “We are more than a CRO, we are true partners.”
Soon, however, BDD Pharma is going to be an even stronger prospect as a partner.
Expanding Capabilities
This year, BDD Pharma has secured a further £2 million investment that will go towards the expansion of its patented drug delivery technology and specialist clinical trial services.
“The funding has come from our existing investors, Archangel Investment, Scottish Enterprise, and a new investor, the British Business Bank,” Dr Thomson explains. “The money will be used to expand our GMP manufacturing and clinical trials capabilities.
BDD Pharma’s goal is to be able to take a brand-new product, test it, check it for safety first in human trials, develop the formulation to create the best possible pharmaceutical product for the specific disease area and then demonstrate its performance in Phase I and Phase II clinical studies.
“We work with partners from start to finish, using the knowledge from each stage to improve the product with every step we take,” says Dr Thomson.
Of course, this work is only possible with an expert team that possesses a selection of highly specialised skills.
“As you can imagine, our people are the most important part of the company,” Dr Thomson points out. “They are responsible for the thought behind what we do, so we make sure to retain staff with that knowledge and experience and promote from within.”
BDD Pharma has a strong history of training and promoting people through the company. Laura Gow, BDD’s COO, started at the company 13 years ago as a clinical research scientist manufacturing drug products.
“It gives her a unique understanding of everything we do to provide the very best service to our clients,” Dr Thomson says. “We invest in training our staff internally and externally, using mentoring programs to bring new ideas into the company. We always share our company strategy and vision and engage our staff as much as possible in our journey.”
That engagement permeates BDD’s culture. It is the sort of business where any member of staff is made to feel that they can speak to the CEO on a regular basis.
“It is a cliche, but we really are a big family,” Dr Thomson says. “It is important that we retain our culture, and we are all focused on the same goal, to accelerate the development of each product.”
It is a culture that attracts talent.
“We have a good reputation locally in Scotland,” Calum Stevens says. “It helps us to recruit the best staff. People want to come and work for BDD. They know we are good a place to be.”
Fortunately, the nature of the work itself is an incentive for recruitment.
“We are lucky because what we do is exciting,” Dr Thomson tells us. “It is at the cutting edge of medicinal development, and that keeps people motivated.”
Staying at that cutting edge remains BDD Pharma’s priority.
“We still want to remain at the cutting edge of drug delivery research,” says Dr Thomson. “We are still doing our own internal research and development to give our clients the tools, technology and platforms to make the next generation of medicines.”
BDD Pharma will continue to provide an all-encompassing offering, supporting its clients throughout the process. As BDD Pharma is smaller and nimbler, it can work to scale and carry out phase-appropriate studies. It can also manufacture in the fastest and most cost-effective way to turn around development projects from formulation to clinical output in six to eight months.
“We work with customers from the biggest pharmaceutical companies to the smaller bio-techs across a whole range of therapeutic areas,” Dr Thomson says. “We excel at helping small companies with really exciting, innovative new products and we can support them in bringing these to market.”
