Meridica, the biotechnology company spun out of PA Consulting two years ago, has struck a licensing deal with Pfizer for one of its key products - a dry powder inhaler for asthma sufferers.
Ian Smith, chief executive of the drug delivery specialist, said Pfizer - the world's biggest pharmaceuticals group - would take a stake in his company but did not disclose the terms of the deal.
Meridica originally received £10m in cash and intellectual property from PA, a management consultancy, when it was first spun off. Before the Pfizer deal the company was fully owned by PA and senior staff.
Mr Smith said the deal meant it had become "self-sufficient" before the PA funds had run out.
However, he said the company could eventually need more money and would look for either an initial public offering or private investment.
Pfizer will also make an up-front payment, which will be followed by other payments as the product passes development milestones.
The dry powder inhaler - intended for the treatment of other respiratory diseases as well as asthma - has been tested internally at Meridica and is to enter external clinical trials on 20 patients at the beginning of next year.
If it passes those tests, further trials will need to be conducted on a wider patient group. Pfizer will conduct its own clinical trials to see if the inhaler works with its drugs. Meridica is also looking to license the product to other drug-makers.
SkyePharma, a drug development company with a market value of about £400m, also has a dry powder inhaler that it hopes to launch in Europe and the US next year. It has licensing partnerships with Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group, and Schering-Plough of the US. Bespak, another listed UK company, also makes dry-powder inhalers.
