Simulations Plus, Inc. ( SLP ), a leading provider of simulation and modeling software for pharmaceutical discovery and development, announced today that it has signed a collaboration agreement with a top-5 pharmaceutical company to extend and enhance its oral cavity dosing model within its industry gold standard GastroPlus™ simulation software program.

Walt Woltosz, chairman and chief executive officer of Simulations Plus, said: “We’re very pleased to announce this collaboration, which will extend and enhance the GastroPlus simulation model for drug dosing in the oral cavity, such as sublingual, lingual and buccal (inside the cheek) dosing through a variety of dosage forms. These agreements will continue to extend the competitive advantage of our GastroPlus program, adding industry leading capabilities without the need for Simulations Plus to fund the development directly. These will include rapid-dissolving tablets, solutions, suspensions, oral sprays, and buccal patches. When it is appropriate for a particular drug, oral cavity dosing can have significant advantages over traditional swallowed oral doses, including more rapid absorption and onset of action, and reduced loss of drug due to first-pass metabolism in the liver.”

John DiBella, vice president of marketing and sales for Simulations Plus, added: “This is our first new funded collaboration since we completed several others two years ago. The funding support we will receive will add to our steady growth in software licensing revenues, which has had to make up for the lack of collaboration funding in recent quarters when compared to their year-previous quarters, as well as adding to the revenue growth we’ve experienced. We are currently in final negotiations with another top pharmaceutical company for yet another funded collaboration intended to enhance GastroPlus, and we expect to announce it in the very near future.”