Bend Research Signs Technology Licensing Agreement with Merck & Co., Inc.

BEND, Ore., Nov. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Bend Research Inc. (www.bendresearch.com), a leading independent drug-formulation development and manufacturing company, announced today that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Merck, through a subsidiary.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bend Research will provide Merck access to its proprietary spray-dried dispersion (SDD) technology. Depending on Merck’s additional needs, Bend may also provide Merck with access under the license agreement to additional drug-delivery platforms and intellectual property, including modified-release technologies and drug-discovery formulation tools.

Under the collaboration, the two companies hope to use their complementary fundamental scientific and engineering capabilities to solve complex formulation and process-development problems with an eye toward transferring these solutions to a cGMP environment.

“We are excited to extend our working relationship with Merck,” said Rod Ray, Chief Executive Officer of Bend Research. “Building stronger collaborative relationships with leading companies like Merck is important to Bend Research’s future. This relationship expands our opportunities to deliver best-in-class medicines and fits well with Merck’s mission to help provide innovative products that save and improve people’s lives.”

About Bend Research Inc.

For more than 35 years, Bend Research has worked with clients to create value by advancing new medicines that improve human health and to solve their most difficult scientific and technical problems. This success is based on the company’s ability to develop, advance, and commercialize pharmaceutical technologies, which grow from a solid base of scientific and engineering fundamental understanding.

Bend Research provides formulation and dosage-form support, assists in process development and optimization, manufactures clinical-trial quantities of drug candidates in its cGMP facilities, and advances promising drug candidates from conception through commercialization. Bend Research is a leader in novel formulations, including solubilization technologies such as SDDs and hot-melt extrusion formulations, as well as controlled-release, inhalation, and biotherapeutics technologies.

Bend Research has more than 240 employees based in four state-of-the-art facilities in Bend, Ore., USA.

SOURCE Bend Research Inc.

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