[nanoPost] Nanoparticle anti cancer agents

Company Japan

An anticancer agent, when administered into the body, may exert undesired pharmacological effects also in healthy sites other than the affected site because it circulates through the body.

Consequently, the anticancer agent may provoke sorts of adverse reactions, while its pharmacological effects on the target affected site are reduced because it is scattered and lost. Even when a drug provokes intense adverse reactions like an anticancer agent, namely, devisal to develop a method which efficaciously delivers the drug only to cancer tissue at the affected site would suppress its adverse reactions.

Our technologies are innovative, resulting from improvements of these drug delivery technologies through full use of nanotechnology and biotechnology.

Our technologies are featured by their competence to realize 1) solubilization (make a substance be more soluble in water), 2) sustained release (make a substance be released slowly), and 3) targeting (make a substance reach the target site in a concentrated manner). No other drug delivery system (DDS) can be found elsewhere which has these 3 features.

Solubilization

Oil-based drugs like anticancer drugs have a property of being less soluble in water. Therefore, the drugs do not dissolve in the blood when taken into the body and may provoke adverse reactions (e.g., clogging of blood vessels) and reduce their pharmacological efficacy. Burden to the body would be reduced if such less water-soluble compounds are stably incorporated into water-soluble nanoparticles to solubilize them in the blood.

  
Sustained release

Blood concentrations of a drug which was administered according to an ordinary manner rapidly increase immediately after administration, decrease with time because it is metabolized by tissue and is excreted out of the body. Finally, the drug loses its therapeutic effects. Provision of a release-controlling function to the drug allows the realization of the ideal administration method which is capable of maintaining blood drug concentrations to a constant level.

Targeting

Passive targeting: It is a technology which delivers a drug to the target site in a concentrated manner by increasing its stability in the body and by making use of function inherent to the living body.

Active targeting: It refers to a technology which makes a drug be accumulated specifically at the target site by applying molecules with high affinity for target cells. In cancer treatment, for example, sorts of methods, including a method which makes use of antibody molecules which selectively bind to specific antigens on the cancer cell surface, have been investigated.

The technology

The company applies the manufacturing technology of ultrafine particles termed "micellar nanoparticles" . We are developing micellar nanoparticles to use them as carriers for drugs, such as anticancer agents.

These micellar nanoparticles are block copolymers with amphiphilicity in which a hydrophilic polymer (polyethyleneglycol) and a hydrophobic polymer (polyamino acid derivative) are bound at the molecular level. After dispersing these block copolymers in water, they associate spontaneously and result in forming two-tier particles which clearly consist of the core (inner core) and shell (outer shell). This technology has drawn attention worldwide because it yields nanoparticles known as functional micellar nanoparticles.

Feaures of micellar nanoparticles

- They are nano-sized, ultrafine particles.

- They can stably retain a drug in the inner core.

- They are highly stable in the blood (they can avoid the foreign matter-recognizing response because the outer shell is made of a hydrophilic radical).

- They allow the selection of the class and molecular weight of block copolymers to apply, depending on the property of a drug to be incorporated.

- They can control the release of a drug from micelles.

- They can control the size of optimal micellar particles, depending on the target disorder.

PRODUCTS

Product 1: Passive Targetting

The system physically incorporates a poorly soluble drug into nanoparticles, solubilizes it to enable intravenous administration and simultaneously converts drug release to sustained release.

 
Product 2: Passive Targetting

The system utilizes the electric charge of water-soluble compounds-DNA, protein, metal complex, and peptide- to bind them to the inner core of micelles, thus incorporating them into micellar nanoparticles. The system improves the stability of a substance and affords a sustained-releasing function to it.

Furthermore, we are developing technologies for targeting treatment of next generation in an attempt to exploit applied uses.

Product 3: Active Targetting

The system more selectively accumulates a drug into affected tissue such as cancer tissue. With an aim to develop DDS preparations which enhance therapeutic effects and reduce adverse reactions, the system increases the accumulability of the drug into target tissue by binding an antibody or peptide which specifically adsorbs to cancer to the end of hydrophilic polyethyleneglycol that forms the outer shell of nanoparticles.

Access the contact details for this post by subscribing to premium content membership. For more details on premium content membership see our membership and fees page >> or contact info@nanoposts.com.