Category Archives: Nano Medicine

Public release date: 17-Feb-2012
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Contact: Lindsay Brooke
Lindsay.brooke@nottingham.ac.uk
44-011-595-15751
University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham spin-out company, Critical Pharmaceuticals, has announced a ?545,000 collaboration with the University to develop a nano-enabled intranasal formulation of teriparatide for the treatment of osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis affects an estimated 75 million people in Europe, US and Japan with more than 180,000 patients suffer fragility fractures in the UK alone each year, at a cost of around ?2 billion to the NHS.

Teriparatide, an excellent recent addition to the range of drugs used for the treatment of osteoporosis, but it currently needs to be injected every day. The consortium will exploit a recent discovery in nanotechnology to develop a nasal spray formulation of teriparatide that is easy to administer by patients and provides optimal drug plasma levels to enhance efficacy.

The Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are supporting this project with grant funding as part of their investment in nanoscale technology-enabled solutions in healthcare.

Critical Pharmaceuticals CriticalSorb? nanotechnology is a best in class absorption promoter that enables the nasal delivery of biological and challenging small molecule drugs. Biological drugs represent a $100 billion market, and yet nearly all need to be administered by frequent injection. CriticalSorb? has the potential to transform the delivery of biological drugs by enabling non-invasive delivery that would be strongly preferred by patients. Critical Pharmaceuticals lead product is a nasal formulation of human growth hormone (CP024) that uses CriticalSorb? and is currently in phase 1 clinical development.

Critical Pharmaceuticals is an emerging biotechnology company. CEO, Dr Gareth King, said: "We are excited about working with internationally-recognised clinicians and scientists at The University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust to rapidly develop this highly innovative formulation of teriparatide and look forward to the day we can offer it as an attractive alternative to daily injection for the many older people living with osteoporosis".

The University of Nottingham has world-leading capabilities in clinical and basic research in osteoporosis, geriatric care, bone pathophysiology and medical imaging. The use of University expertise for imaging drug deposition and clearance will greatly enhance the development of this formulation. This project will draw on interdisciplinary collaborative research from international experts Dr Richard Pearson (Division of Orthopaedic & Accident Surgery), Professor Alan Perkins (Division of Radiological and Imaging Sciences) and Professor Tahir Masud (Geriatric Medicine).

Dr Richard Pearson, Senior Research Fellow in The University of Nottingham's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, said "I'm delighted to collaborate on this project that will enable us to further develop the world-leading research and development capability at The University of Nottingham for the evaluation of drugs for osteoporosis and to work closely with Critical Pharmaceuticals scientists on the development of an exciting new therapy for this debilitating disease".

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Nano-enabled nasal spray for osteoporosis

The Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) provide grant funding to support the £545,000 project.

Nottingham / B3C newswire / - Critical Pharmaceuticals, an emerging biotechnology company, and The University of Nottingham today announce a £545,000 collaboration to develop a nano-enabled intranasal formulation of teriparatide for the treatment of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis affects an estimated 75 million people in Europe, US and Japan with more than 180,000 patients suffer fragility fractures in the UK alone each year, at a cost of around £2 billion to the NHS.

Teriparatide, an excellent recent addition to the range of drugs used for the treatment of osteoporosis, but it currently needs to be injected every day. Our consortium will exploit a recent discovery in nanotechnology to develop a nasal spray formulation of teriparatide that is easy to administer by patients and provides optimal drug plasma levels to enhance efficacy.

The Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are supporting this project with grant funding as part of their investment in nanoscale technology-enabled solutions in healthcare.

Critical Pharmaceuticals CriticalSorb™ nanotechnology is a best in class absorption promoter that enables the nasal delivery of biological and challenging small molecule drugs. Biological drugs represent a $100 billion market, and yet nearly all need to be administered by frequent injection. CriticalSorb™ has the potential to transform the delivery of biological drugs by enabling non-invasive delivery that would be strongly preferred by patients. Critical Pharmaceuticals lead product is a nasal formulation of human growth hormone (CP024) that uses CriticalSorb™ and is currently in phase 1 clinical development.

Dr Gareth King, CEO Critical Pharmaceuticals said "We are excited about working with internationally-recognized clinicians and scientists at The University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust to rapidly develop this highly innovative formulation of teriparatide and look forward to the day we can offer it as an attractive alternative to daily injection for the many older people living with osteoporosis".

The University of Nottingham has world-leading capabilities in clinical and basic research in osteoporosis, geriatric care, bone pathophysiology and medical imaging. The use of university expertise for imaging drug deposition and clearance will greatly enhance the development of this formulation. This project will draw on interdisciplinary collaborative research from international experts Dr Richard Pearson (Division of Orthopaedic & Accident Surgery), Professor Alan Perkins (Division of Radiological and Imaging Sciences) and Professor Tahir Masud (Geriatric Medicine).

Dr Richard Pearson, Senior Research Fellow in The University of Nottingham's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, said "I'm delighted to collaborate on this project that will enable us to further develop the world-leading research and development capability at the University of Nottingham for the evaluation of drugs for osteoporosis and to work closely with Critical Pharmaceuticals scientists on the development of an exciting new therapy for this debilitating disease".

About Critical Pharmaceuticals
Critical Pharmaceuticals is a Nottingham UK-based biotechnology company developing a pipeline of unique biological drug products utilizing its proprietary drug delivery technologies. These technologies enable the development of sustained release injectable depot and nasal delivery of proteins and peptides and small molecular weight drugs. As well as developing it's own pipeline, Critical Pharmaceuticals works in partnership with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to enhance the delivery of their novel drug products.

About The University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university', has award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings. It was named ‘the world's greenest university' in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking 2011, a league table of the most environmentally-friendly higher education institutions.

The University is committed to providing a truly international education for its 40,000 students, producing world-leading research and benefiting the communities around its campuses in the UK and Asia. Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest ever fund-raising campaign, will deliver the University's vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. For more details, visit: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/impactcampaign

More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading' or ‘internationally excellent'. Research Fortnight analysis of RAE 2008 ranked the University 7th in the UK by research power.

The University's vision is to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, health and medical imaging. The University won a Queen's Award for Higher and Further Education in 2011, for its research on global food security.

More news from the University at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news

About the Technology Strategy Board
The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led government body which works to create economic growth by ensuring that the UK is a global leader in innovation. Sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Technology Strategy Board brings together business, research and the public sector, supporting and accelerating the development of innovative products and services to meet market needs, tackle major societal challenges and help build the future economy.

SOURCE: Critical Pharmaceuticals

The rest is here:
Critical Pharmaceuticals And The University Of Nottingham To Develop Nano-Enabled Nasal Spray For Osteoporosis

Researchers say they have made the first implantable chip that can deliver medicine for as long as a year and that several women tolerated it safely for up to four months. Not only did the subjects find the implant comfortable, but it appeared to deliver an osteoporosis drug effectively, the team told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

They think such a device could be programmed to deliver a precise dose daily, helping to avoid problems caused when people fail to take their drugs on time. It could also be controlled remotely, allowing doctors to change dosage.

“We see this as a new future for how doctors will administer drugs and how patients will receive their treatments,” Robert Farra of Massachusetts-based MicroCHIPS told a news conference. “Patients will be freed from having to remember to take their medication and don’t have to experience the pain of multiple injections.”

Patients often fail to take medicines correctly -- and the more complex and expensive the drug, the less likely they are to remember. It's a headache for doctors and insurers alike, who end up spending needless time and money to treat symptoms that could have been prevented had the patients taken their drugs.

Such a device is at least five years away from the market. The implant study involved just a few women and only covered a short time; years of Food and Drug Administration approval trials are still needed.

“I have seen many exciting achievements in medical technology, but I have to say this ranks as one of the most remarkable breakthroughs,” said the clearly excited Robert Langer, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the cofounders of the company.

The flash-stick-sized device was Langer’s brainchild; he and colleague Michael Cima spent 15 years developing it. Other such devices might be designed to detect the start of a heart attack and automatically deliver drugs to treat it, or to allow a doctor to remotely deliver drugs to a patient half a world away.

Writing in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the team described how they studied seven women with the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis. They delivered 20 days' worth of a prescription drug called Forteo, which helped rebuild bone and normally requires daily injections for two years.

The women said they did not find the implants uncomfortable and lab tests suggested the medication worked as it would have had it been injected. There were few side-effects, but sometimes a membrane formed around the device. The cost would be comparable to the $10,000 to $12,000 cost of a two-year course of Forteo, the researchers said.

“This trial demonstrates how a drug can be delivered through an implantable device that can be monitored and controlled remotely, providing new opportunities to improve treatment for patients and to realize the potential of telemedicine," Langer said in a statement.

The team compared the device to a pacemaker. Pumps exist that deliver doses of liquid insulin, but the researchers said this was the first solid-state device to deliver a drug. It uses nano-sized structures to channel and deliver the drug, and an electrical current to open the nano-channels.

Read more:
Implanted Chip Delivers Drugs Without a Thought

Public release date: 16-Feb-2012
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Contact: Dr Hilary Glover
hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com
44-020-319-22370
BioMed Central

While there have been major advances in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of tumors within the brain, brain cancer continues to have a very low survival rate in part to high levels of resistance to treatment. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Journal of Nanobiotechnology has used Sendai virus to transport Quantum Dots (Qdots) into brain cancer cells and to specifically bind Qdots to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) which is often over-expressed and up-regulated in tumors. By molecular-labeling cancer cells this nanoparticle technology could be used to aid diagnosis.

Qdots are tiny fluorescent particles, smaller than a virus, and over 1000 times smaller than a cell, which can be linked to biological molecules, such as antibodies. Once linked, the fluorescence would make it easy to find which cells contain the protein the antibody recognizes, and where in the cell this protein is located. However there have been problems getting the Qdots into cells without them clumping, or being packaged in to endosomes, and excreted from the cells as waste.

Researchers from the City College of New York have overcome this problem by coating the Qdots in lipid and protein coats based on Sendai virus. Prof Maribel Vazquez explained, "While cells have complex defense mechanisms to protect themselves against attack, viruses have evolved ways to fool the cell into letting them in. We were able to exploit these mechanisms by fusing inactivated mouse parainfluenza virus with liposomes containing Qdots. The Qdots were in turn attached to an antibody against EGFR. So, once inside the cell, the Qdot-antibody complexes were able to bind to the receptor and the amount of bound complex could be monitored by measuring Qdot fluorescence."

This study looked at the level of EGFR as a marker for cancer but the Qdots could be attached to any antibody. Antibody-Qdot sets would allow rapid identification of different cancer types, determine potential chemotherapy resistance, and lead a more individualized treatment plan.

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Media Contact
Dr Hilary Glover
Scientific Press Officer, BioMed Central
Tel: 44-20-3192-2370
Mob: 44-778-698-1967
Email: hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com

Notes to Editors

1. Sendai Virus-based Liposomes Enable Targeted Cytosolic Delivery of Nanoparticles in Brain Tumor-Derived Cells Veronica Dudu, Veronica Rotari and Maribel Vazquez. Journal of Nanobiotechnology (in press)

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request at press@biomedcentral.com on the day of publication.

2. Journal of Nanobiotechnology is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal communicating scientific and technological advances in the fields of medicine and biology, with an emphasis in their interface with nanoscale sciences. The journal provides biomedical scientists and the international biotechnology business community with the latest developments in the growing field of Nanobiotechnology.

3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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Nano-technology uses virus' coats to fool cancer cells

Medication via remote-control instead of a shot? Scientists implanted microchips in seven women that did just that, oozing out the right dose of a bone-strengthening drug once a day without them even noticing.

Implanted medicine is a hot field, aiming to help patients better stick to their medications and to deliver those drugs straight to the body part that needs them.

But Thursday's study is believed to be the first attempt at using a wirelessly controlled drug chip in people. If this early-stage testing eventually pans out, the idea is that doctors one day might program dose changes from afar with the push of a button, or time them for when the patient is sleeping to minimise side effects.

The implant initially is being studied to treat severe bone-thinning osteoporosis. But it could be filled with other types of medication, said co-inventor Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"It's like Star Trek," said Langer, referring to a science fiction television series. He co-authored the study appearing on Thursday in the journal, Science Translational Medicine. "Just send a signal over a special radio wave, and out comes the drug."

Today's medication implants continuously emit their drugs until they run dry. One example is a coin-sized wafer that oozes chemotherapy directly onto the site of a surgically removed brain tumour, targeting any remaining cancer cells. Another is a contraceptive rod that is implanted in the arm and releases hormones to prevent pregnancy.

A next step would be more sophisticated implants that release one dose at a time, programmable to skip or add a dose as needed, said biomedical engineer Ellis Meng of the University of Southern California.

Meng was not involved with the MIT study but also is developing this kind of technology, and called Thursday's report "an important milestone".

Women with severe osteoporosis sometimes are prescribed daily injections of the bone-building drug teriparatide, known by the brand, Forteo. But many quit taking it because of the hassle of the shots.

In the study, the microchip held doses of that drug inside tiny wells that are sealed shut with a nano-thin layer of gold. Sending a wireless signal causes the gold on an individual well to dissolve, allowing that dose to diffuse into the bloodstream, Langer explained.

In a doctor's-office procedure, the microchip was implanted just below the waistline into eight women with osteoporosis in Denmark. Testing found one microchip wasn't responding to the signals. The other seven women had their implants programmed to automatically emit a once-a-day dose beginning eight weeks later.

The chips could have begun working right away, said Robert Farra, chief executive of MicroCHIPS Inc, a Massachusetts company that has licensed the device and funded the study. But animal research showed a scar tissue-like membrane forms around the pacemaker-sized implant. So he waited until that blockage formed to signal the first of 20 once-a-day doses to begin, to see if the drug could get through.

Blood testing showed the implant delivered the drug as effectively as the women's usual daily injections, and the device appeared to be safe, the researchers reported.

It will take large-scale studies to prove the implant works as well as the long-used shots, cautioned osteoporosis specialist Dr Ethel Siris of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University.

"They're a long way from proving that this mode of administration is going to work," she said. But it's an intriguing idea because "it's daunting to have to take a daily shot".

Farra said his company hopes to begin a larger-scale test, using a chip that can hold 365 doses, in 2014. While doses of this osteoporosis medicine typically are not adjusted, he said, the eventual goal is for patients to carry a mobile phone-sized device that would provide wireless feedback to the doctor who programs their implants.

Read the original post:
Remote-control chip implant delivers drug

WASHINGTON — Medication via remote-control instead of a shot? Scientists implanted microchips in seven women that did just that, oozing out the right dose of a bone-strengthening drug once a day without them even noticing.

Implanted medicine is a hot field, aiming to help patients better stick to their medications and to deliver those drugs straight to the body part that needs them.

But Thursday's study is believed the first attempt at using a wirelessly controlled drug chip in people. If this early-stage testing eventually pans out, the idea is that doctors one day might program dose changes from afar with the push of a button, or time them for when the patient is sleeping to minimize side effects.

The implant initially is being studied to treat severe bone-thinning osteoporosis. But it could be filled with other types of medication, said co-inventor Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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"It's like 'Star Trek,'" said Langer, referring to a science fiction television series. He co-authored the study appearing Thursday in the journal Science Translational Medicine. "Just send a signal over a special radio wave, and out comes the drug."

Today's medication implants continuously emit their drugs until they run dry. One example is a dime-sized wafer that oozes chemotherapy directly onto the site of a surgically removed brain tumor, targeting any remaining cancer cells. Another is a contraceptive rod that is implanted in the arm and releases hormones to prevent pregnancy.

A next step would be more sophisticated implants that release one dose at a time, programmable to skip or add a dose as needed, said biomedical engineer Ellis Meng of the University of Southern California. Meng was not involved with the MIT study but also is developing this kind of technology, and called Thursday's report "an important milestone."

Women with severe osteoporosis sometimes are prescribed daily injections of the bone-building drug teriparatide, known by the brand Forteo. But many quit taking it because of the hassle of the shots.

In the study, the microchip held doses of that drug inside tiny wells that are sealed shut with a nano-thin layer of gold. Sending a wireless signal causes the gold on an individual well to dissolve, allowing that dose to diffuse into the bloodstream, Langer explained.

In a doctor's-office procedure, the microchip was implanted just below the waistline into eight women with osteoporosis in Denmark. Testing found one microchip wasn't responding to the signals. The other seven women had their implants programmed to automatically emit a once-a-day dose beginning eight weeks later.

The chips could have begun working right away, said Robert Farra, chief executive of MicroCHIPS Inc., a Massachusetts company that has licensed the device and funded the study. But animal research showed a scar tissue-like membrane forms around the pacemaker-sized implant. So he waited until that blockage formed to signal the first of 20 once-a-day doses to begin, to see if the drug could get through.

Blood testing showed the implant delivered the drug as effectively as the women's usual daily injections, and the device appeared to be safe, the researchers reported.

It will take large-scale studies to prove the implant works as well as the long-used shots, cautioned osteoporosis specialist Dr. Ethel Siris of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University.

"They're a long way from proving that this mode of administration is going to work," she said. But it's an intriguing idea because "it's daunting to have to take a daily shot."

Farra said his company hopes to begin a larger-scale test, using a chip that can hold 365 doses, in 2014. While doses of this osteoporosis medicine typically are not adjusted, he said, the eventual goal is for patients to carry a cell phone-sized device that would provide wireless feedback to the doctor who programs their implants.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Remote-controlled chip implant delivers meds