Aphios
Corporation awarded SBIR grant from NIH for Solvent-Free
Protein Comminution
September
28, 1999
— Aphios
Corporation has been awarded a Phase I SBIR grant from the
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of
the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant is entitled
“Solvent-Free Protein Comminution.”
Controlled
release systems for drugs have received increased attention
and application over the past decade, as they frequently
provide a dosing regimen significantly superior to conventional
techniques. By allowing a near constant level of drug to
be maintained within the patient, treatment efficacy can
be greatly improved. Such controlled release formulations
have the further advantages of decreased dosage frequency
and patient discomfort, increased patient compliance, and
the possibility of reducing the overall amount of drug administered.
In
the formulation of controlled release therapeutics, it is
frequently desirable to disperse the material into very
fine, uniform particles. Such particles may then be advantageously
incorporated into delivery vehicles such as polymeric microspheres
or implantable devices, or delivered to the lungs as an
aerosol. With proteinaceous therapeutics, the generation
of such fine particles is particularly problematic.
Existing
practices often have difficulty achieving the desired particle
size distribution. Some of these practices expose the protein
to denaturing conditions such as heat or air, or leave residual
product contamination which necessitates further processing.
Aphios
Corporation’s protein comminution process avoids the aforementioned
difficulties. Aphios’ process utilizes nontoxic liquefied
gases, compressed gases, or supercritical fluids (which
have properties intermediate to gases and liquids) to form
small (0.5 to 5 micron), monodisperse protein particles
without first dissolving the material in a liquid solvent.
The comminuted protein particles retain full activity and
are devoid of residual processing chemicals such as solvents,
salts, or surfactants.
Aphios’
protein comminution process will benefit the pharmaceutical
and biotech industries by yielding improved efficacy of
therapeutic products with less residual contamination. The
technique can also be useful in obtaining a desired particle
size in drug manufacture, and may also prove useful in terms
of controlled release formulations such as microspheres
or aerosol delivery systems.
Aphios
Corporation is a privately held research and development
company headquartered at 3-E Gill Street, Woburn, Massachusetts
01801, USA, tel: (781) 932-6933, fax: (781) 932-6865, e-mail:
aphios@aol.com. The
Company is developing research tools and industrial processes
for the enhanced discovery, manufacturing, delivery and
safety of naturally derived and genetically engineered therapeutics
for the treatment of cancer, AIDS, and other infectious
diseases in a cost-effective manner. The Company is profiled
in a recent interview on http://www.wallstreetinterview.com.
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