Drug Delivery
Value Proposition
Our nanoparticle drug-delivery platform reduces local cancer recurrence. By locally and safely delivering chemotherapeutics to residual tumors following a resection surgery, we treat the primary cause of mortality in ovarian, mesothelioma and other peritoneal cancers. This technology accesses a $1B+ (USA) addressable market.
$1B+ (USA) addressable market
Technology Overview
Nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems suffer from poor accumulation in tumors with traditional "active" or "passive" targeting strategies netting a median delivery efficiency of just 0.7% of the injected dose reaching the tumor.
Our solution to this problem is a novel, patented, expansile nanoparticle that employs a unique Materials-Based Targeting strategy to achieve a 50X improvement in delivery efficiency compared to traditional systems. With this improvement, we demonstrate an increase in survival of over 200% compared to clinical standard of care in murine models of peritoneal cancers.
200% increase in survival
Publications
Radiolabeled Biodistribution of Expansile Nanoparticles: Intraperitoneal Administration Results in Tumor Specific Accumulation (2023)
This paper demonstrates that intraperitoneal administration of expansile nanoparticles achieves a 3,000-fold improvement in tumoral delivery over intravenous administration and that over 65% of the injected dose accumulates in the tumor within 6 hours.
Pilot-scale production of expansile nanoparticles: Practical methods for clinical scale-up (2021)
This manuscript describes the process of scaling-up of production of the expansile nanoparticle (eNP) technology from lab-scale to pilot-scale including verification of activity and efficacy following scaleup.
Paclitaxel-loaded expansile nanoparticles improve survival following cytoreductive surgery in pleural mesothelioma xenografts (2020)
This article demonstrates that expansile nanoparticles more than double animal survival compared to clinically available treatments in a murine model of pleural mesothelioma.
Verticillin A Causes Apoptosis and Reduces Tumor Burden in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer by Inducing DNA Damage (2020)
This paper demonstrates that expansile nanoparticles can effectively deliver new cytotoxic natural products, such as verticillin A, to ovarian cancer cells thereby controlling tumor growth.
Nanoparticle drug-delivery systems for peritoneal cancers: a case study of the design, characterization and development of the expansile nanoparticle (2017)
This paper summarizes the pre-clinical development of the expansile nanoparticle technology from its inception through mid-late preclinical efficacy and pharmacokinetics studies. In addition to its use as a drug delivery system, several additional applications are described including use as a fluorescent-guide for cytoreductive surgery and as tool for two-step delivery.
Nanoparticle tumor localization, disruption of autophagosomal trafficking, and prolonged drug delivery improve survival in peritoneal mesothelioma (2016)
This article details the biodistribution, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of paclitaxel-loaded expansile nanoparticles in a murine model of peritoneal mesothelioma.
Cytoreductive Surgery and Intraoperative Administration of Paclitaxel-loaded Expansile Nanoparticles Delay Tumor Recurrence in Ovarian Carcinoma (2012)
This paper demonstrates that expansile nanoparticles achieve superior control of tumor growth compared to the clinical standard of care in ovarian cancer.