Hyloris Pharmaceuticals Bets on Reformulation to Accelerate Pharmaceutical Innovation

From June 22 to 25, Wallonia will be attending the BIO International Convention in San Diego. The event is one of the most important global gatherings for building partnerships in the biotech sector. Among the Walloon companies present in San Diego is Hyloris Pharmaceuticals.

Based in Liège, Wallonia, since 2017, Hyloris Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical group specializing in the reinvention and optimization of existing medicines through reformulation and repurposing, with the aim of addressing significant unmet medical needs and delivering meaningful improvements for patients, healthcare professionals, and payers.

“We work on the reformulation and repurposing of existing molecules. For example, we developed a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen together with a partner as an intravenous infusion solution. The product previously existed in tablet form, and we converted it into an infusion. We also have other products where medicines are initially used for a specific indication and, through clinical trials, we demonstrate that they are also effective for other conditions,” explains Thomas Jacobsen, co-founder of Hyloris Pharmaceuticals.

Hyloris Pharmaceuticals oversees the lengthy development and regulatory approval process and seeks partners worldwide to commercialize its products. The company does not own manufacturing facilities.

“The core idea is that because we work with already well-known ingredients, we do not need to prove their safety again. That has already been established. We simply need to demonstrate their efficacy,” adds Thomas Jacobsen.

This approach therefore reduces costs and shortens the time needed to bring a drug to market. “Our products genuinely change the lives of patients and physicians. It is not just a minor improvement. There is a real therapeutic benefit. For example, we have an intravenous sotalol product. Sotalol is a well-known drug used in patients suffering from atrial fibrillation, meaning when the heart beats irregularly. When oral sotalol treatment is initiated, it takes three days to reach effective blood levels. During those three days, a serious side effect may occur and, if the patient is not hospitalized, it can be fatal. We therefore reformulated the product into an intravenous version. The drug is administered to the patient over one hour. If the physician observes the side effect, the infusion is stopped immediately. Otherwise, after one hour, the patient has already reached the required therapeutic level. The treatment can then switch to tablets and the patient can return home. So instead of staying in hospital for three days, the patient can go home within a single day,” Thomas Jacobsen explains.

In total, Hyloris Pharmaceuticals is working on more than 30 products, 28 of which have already been publicly disclosed.

For several years now, Hyloris Pharmaceuticals has been participating in the BIO convention in the United States. “It is an excellent opportunity to identify new products for our pipeline and new partners for our existing products,” he concludes.

Isabelle Anneet (AWEX)