Aphios
Corporation Granted United States Patent for Drug Discovery
Technique
May
11, 1999
— Aphios
Corporation has been granted United States Patent No. 5,854,064
on December 29, 1998. The patent is titled “Methods for
Fractionation of Biologically-Derived Materials” and is
available for licensing.
In the patented process, supercritical and near-critical fluids with/without
cosolvents (SuperFluids™
) are used to fractionate biomass materials in two steps.
In the first step, the biomass is exposed to elevated pressure
SuperFluids™ to bring
about disruption of the biomass. In the second step, the
disrupted biomass is subjected to a multiplicity of SuperFluids™
fractionation steps, with different solvation conditions
for each fraction. Thus, fractionation of the biomass is
effected.
The discovery of natural products for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and
healthcare industries can be significantly enhanced by the
use of SuperFluids™CXF
fractionation techniques. Fractionating natural
products by SuperFluids™ techniques
result in partially-purified fractions and “clean” hits
in molecular and cellular assays. These techniques also
provide engineering platforms for the rapid, cost-effective
and truly “green” isolation and purification of bioactive
secondary metabolites from terrestrial plants, microorganisms
and marine macroorganisms.
Aphios conducted the research and developed the SuperFluids™
CXF process in a $3 million R&D program focused
on the discovery and development of therapeutics and industrial
chemicals from marine microorganisms. The program was partially
funded by a prestigious $2 million Advance Technology Program
(ATP) grant from the National Institute of Science and Technology,
Department of Commerce. Industrial collaborators included:
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Wallingford, CT and Princeton,
NJ; BetzDearborn/Hercules, Dallas, TX; Instituto BioMar,
Leon, Spain; and The Gillette Company, Boston, MA.
Aphios
has utilized SuperFluids™ CXF fractionation
technology for the isolation of anti-cancer agents such
as taxols and bryostatins; and the discovery of anti-viral
(HIV and influenza) and anti-microbial agents.
Aphios’
lead pre-clinical drug candidates are a SuperFluids
plant fraction (CXF-Y2)
which, at very low concentrations, has shown 100 % inhibition
of the influenza virus, and a SuperFluids
marine macroorganism fraction (CXF-B13) which at ultra-low
concentrations appears to inhibit the replication of the
HIV-I virus. CXF-Y2 is abundant and may have sufficient
hydrophobicity for absorption in the gut (oral bioavailability).
CXF-B13 is not as abundant, but is closely related to a
potent anti-cancer agent currently in clinical trials in
the United States and the United Kingdom. Several marine
microorganism SuperFluids™
fractions active against the HIV virus have also
been selected by an industrial collaborator for further
development.
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 improved 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.
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