Ashland advances high-growth oral biologics delivery applications with launch of permexa™ sodium caprate

August, 2026

Commercialization follows strong interest from pharmaceutical developers worldwide

Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH), has announced the launch of permexa™ sodium caprate, a high-performance intestinal permeation enhancer designed to support the scalable development and commercialization of oral peptide, biologic and low-permeability drug products, including rapidly expanding GLP-1 agonists and related therapeutic pipelines.

The launch comes at a time of significant market momentum in oral peptide and biologics development. Pharmaceutical companies continue to invest heavily in oral alternatives to injectable therapies, driven by the potential to improve patient convenience, enhance treatment adherence and unlock new therapeutic opportunities. As a result, pipelines across GLP-1’s, diabetes and weight loss, metabolic disorders, endocrine therapeutics and other peptide-based medicines continue to expand.

Developers continue to face important challenges as programs move from concept through development and manufacturing, despite growing investment and encouraging clinical progress. Permeability enhancement remains critical for oral drug products, but formulation consistency, process robustness and scalability are increasingly recognized as key barriers to successful commercialization.

Ashland permexa™ sodium caprate was engineered to help address these challenges by combining established sodium caprate functionality with improved pharmaceutical processing performance. The excipient is designed with an IP-protected process to support more robust tablet manufacturing through improved powder flow, enhanced compressibility and greater formulation consistency, while maintaining the permeability enhancement characteristics required for oral drug delivery applications. The result is a solution intended not only for laboratory success, but also for real-world pharmaceutical development and manufacturing environments where reproducibility, scalability and process robustness are essential.

The Ashland launch follows strong interest from pharmaceutical developers worldwide. Ahead of the commercial launch, the company recorded engagement with multiple pharmaceutical, biotech and CDMO organizations globally, spanning sampling activities, technical evaluations, pre-launch sales, benchmarking studies and formulation development discussions. Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive on the product’s differentiated properties.

“Consequently, Ashland is not stopping here. We have developed a multi-stage strategy to support the pharmaceutical market with essential excipients for the oral delivery of biologics. We have multiple additional products in the pipeline and recognize important synergies with our vinyl pyrrolidone and derivatives (VP&D) portfolio. We are already actively servicing this market with our established VP&D portfolio, which will be further strengthened by our oral biologics’ portfolio expansion,” she concluded.

For more information about Permexa™ sodium caprate and how the expanded Ashland portfolio of solutions for oral biologics delivery—including product information, technical support and sampling opportunities— interested parties should visit the permexa site or contact their local Ashland solver.

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Source: Ashland, website Ashland advances high-growth oral biologics delivery applications with launch of permexa™ sodium caprate | Ashland Inc.

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