Using Nanoparticles to Treat Viral Hepatitis

[Guest guest]

http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=8494

Using Nanoparticles to Treat Viral Hepatitis

Lipoxen PLC, a bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of

high value differentiated biologicals, vaccines and oncology drugs, announces

today that it has entered into a research agreement with the University of

Nottingham to develop new enhanced fomulations of antiviral drugs for the

treatment of important liver diseases such as viral hepatitis which is caused by

hepatitis C (HCV). The two parties will use novel proprietary formulations based

on liposome and nanoparticle delivery in order to achieve enhanced therapeutic

effects by delivering the drugs directly to the liver. This approach is also

expected to reduce the toxicity of anitviral drugs used to treat liver disease

by limiting their uptake by other tissues and by red blood cells (erythrocytes).

This project is receiving funding from the East Midlands' bioKneX Industrial

Partnership Scheme. Other financial details were not disclosed.

Hepatitis, due to hepatitis C virus infection, is a growing problem already

affecting 150-200 million people worldwide. In recent years the pharmaceutical

industry has invested considerable sums in attempts to develop new drugs for

hepatitis C, but unfortunately nearly all of these drugs have failed in clinical

development, or have met with only limited commercial success, mainly due to

systemic toxicity.

Lipoxen and Nottingham University's present project is designed to address the

systemic toxicity of anti-hepatitis C drugs, which limits the dose at which they

can be administered and thereby compromises their efficacy, by engineering their

selective delivery to the liver using nanoparticles. By improving delivery of

the drug to the affected organ, the project seeks to greatly improve the

efficacy of anti-hepatitis C drugs by allowing them to be given at higher (i.e.

more effective) doses by limiting their systemic toxicity.

The two parties will initially work on developing a new proprietary " super

generic " formulation of ribavirin, the most commonly used antiviral drug to

treat viral hepatitis. This commercially attractive product, which will be based

on liposome or nanoparticle delivery, will be able to be used in combination

with PEG-IFN (pegylated - interferon). Ribavirin, in combination with PEG-IFN,

is the most commonly used treatment regime for viral hepatitis globally.

Once this has been achieved the two parties intend to look at improving the

delivery of other antiviral drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C that have

failed to reach the market due to problems which could potentially be resolved

by this novel formulation technology. Failed anti-hepatitis C drugs include

development candidates from, amongst others, GlaxoKline Boehringer

Ingelheim and Wyeth.

M. Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen, said: " We are very excited to be working with

the University of Nottingham on this project as we believe that by combining our

expertise in liposomal and nanoparticle drug formulation with their tissue

engineering and molecular virology expertise, we can develop a new " direct to

liver " delivery solution to improve the effectiveness of hepatitis C drugs. Our

intial target will be to demonstrate the value of this new delivery approach

using ribavirin the most widely used drug globally to treat viral hepatitis. "

" Once we have developed this new formulation we believe we can significantly

extend its commercial potential in the field drug delivery to the liver by

taking advantage of the opportunity to resurrect several 'near-miss' new drug

candidates from major pharma companies that were being developed for the

treatment of HCV infection. "

Will Irving, Professor of Virology at the University of Nottingham, said: " We

are delighted to be involved in this exciting project. If we can succeed in

delivering increased doses of ribavirin to the infected liver through our novel

delivery systems, it is highly likely we will improve treatment response rates,

which are currently limited mostly by the amount of ribavirin an individual

patient can tolerate. In addition, such a 'proof of principle' would open up

other opportunities for the use of powerful antiviral drugs that are also

limited by their systemic toxicities.

" We have a long-term research programme into many aspects of hepatitis C virus

infection in the University of Nottingham, and have developed systems in the

laboratory for testing drug activity which will underpin our experiments in this

project. Lipoxen have an established track record of production of liposomal

formulations, so this is an ideal partnership. In addition, we are planning to

test and compare polymer nanoparticle delivery vehicles with liposomes, taking

advantage of the considerable expertise in nanoparticle technology that exists

within the University of Nottingham. "

Hepatitis C Hepatitis-C is particularly serious in HIV-infected patients who are

now surviving longer due to the effectiveness of combination drug therapies

against HIV. Existing treatments for hepatitis C virus are only partially

effective. Even patients who do not have a HIV co-infection and who receive

" best standard of care " generally have only a 50-80% chance of being cured by

drug treatments. Patients who do not achieve cure are liable to develop

fibrosis, cirrhosis, cancer and failure of the liver, and may require liver

transplantation.

Posted November 5th, 2008

[Guest guest]

http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=8494

Using Nanoparticles to Treat Viral Hepatitis

Lipoxen PLC, a bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of

high value differentiated biologicals, vaccines and oncology drugs, announces

today that it has entered into a research agreement with the University of

Nottingham to develop new enhanced fomulations of antiviral drugs for the

treatment of important liver diseases such as viral hepatitis which is caused by

hepatitis C (HCV). The two parties will use novel proprietary formulations based

on liposome and nanoparticle delivery in order to achieve enhanced therapeutic

effects by delivering the drugs directly to the liver. This approach is also

expected to reduce the toxicity of anitviral drugs used to treat liver disease

by limiting their uptake by other tissues and by red blood cells (erythrocytes).

This project is receiving funding from the East Midlands' bioKneX Industrial

Partnership Scheme. Other financial details were not disclosed.

Hepatitis, due to hepatitis C virus infection, is a growing problem already

affecting 150-200 million people worldwide. In recent years the pharmaceutical

industry has invested considerable sums in attempts to develop new drugs for

hepatitis C, but unfortunately nearly all of these drugs have failed in clinical

development, or have met with only limited commercial success, mainly due to

systemic toxicity.

Lipoxen and Nottingham University's present project is designed to address the

systemic toxicity of anti-hepatitis C drugs, which limits the dose at which they

can be administered and thereby compromises their efficacy, by engineering their

selective delivery to the liver using nanoparticles. By improving delivery of

the drug to the affected organ, the project seeks to greatly improve the

efficacy of anti-hepatitis C drugs by allowing them to be given at higher (i.e.

more effective) doses by limiting their systemic toxicity.

The two parties will initially work on developing a new proprietary " super

generic " formulation of ribavirin, the most commonly used antiviral drug to

treat viral hepatitis. This commercially attractive product, which will be based

on liposome or nanoparticle delivery, will be able to be used in combination

with PEG-IFN (pegylated - interferon). Ribavirin, in combination with PEG-IFN,

is the most commonly used treatment regime for viral hepatitis globally.

Once this has been achieved the two parties intend to look at improving the

delivery of other antiviral drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C that have

failed to reach the market due to problems which could potentially be resolved

by this novel formulation technology. Failed anti-hepatitis C drugs include

development candidates from, amongst others, GlaxoKline Boehringer

Ingelheim and Wyeth.

M. Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen, said: " We are very excited to be working with

the University of Nottingham on this project as we believe that by combining our

expertise in liposomal and nanoparticle drug formulation with their tissue

engineering and molecular virology expertise, we can develop a new " direct to

liver " delivery solution to improve the effectiveness of hepatitis C drugs. Our

intial target will be to demonstrate the value of this new delivery approach

using ribavirin the most widely used drug globally to treat viral hepatitis. "

" Once we have developed this new formulation we believe we can significantly

extend its commercial potential in the field drug delivery to the liver by

taking advantage of the opportunity to resurrect several 'near-miss' new drug

candidates from major pharma companies that were being developed for the

treatment of HCV infection. "

Will Irving, Professor of Virology at the University of Nottingham, said: " We

are delighted to be involved in this exciting project. If we can succeed in

delivering increased doses of ribavirin to the infected liver through our novel

delivery systems, it is highly likely we will improve treatment response rates,

which are currently limited mostly by the amount of ribavirin an individual

patient can tolerate. In addition, such a 'proof of principle' would open up

other opportunities for the use of powerful antiviral drugs that are also

limited by their systemic toxicities.

" We have a long-term research programme into many aspects of hepatitis C virus

infection in the University of Nottingham, and have developed systems in the

laboratory for testing drug activity which will underpin our experiments in this

project. Lipoxen have an established track record of production of liposomal

formulations, so this is an ideal partnership. In addition, we are planning to

test and compare polymer nanoparticle delivery vehicles with liposomes, taking

advantage of the considerable expertise in nanoparticle technology that exists

within the University of Nottingham. "

Hepatitis C Hepatitis-C is particularly serious in HIV-infected patients who are

now surviving longer due to the effectiveness of combination drug therapies

against HIV. Existing treatments for hepatitis C virus are only partially

effective. Even patients who do not have a HIV co-infection and who receive

" best standard of care " generally have only a 50-80% chance of being cured by

drug treatments. Patients who do not achieve cure are liable to develop

fibrosis, cirrhosis, cancer and failure of the liver, and may require liver

transplantation.

Posted November 5th, 2008

[Guest guest]

http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=8494

Using Nanoparticles to Treat Viral Hepatitis

Lipoxen PLC, a bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of

high value differentiated biologicals, vaccines and oncology drugs, announces

today that it has entered into a research agreement with the University of

Nottingham to develop new enhanced fomulations of antiviral drugs for the

treatment of important liver diseases such as viral hepatitis which is caused by

hepatitis C (HCV). The two parties will use novel proprietary formulations based

on liposome and nanoparticle delivery in order to achieve enhanced therapeutic

effects by delivering the drugs directly to the liver. This approach is also

expected to reduce the toxicity of anitviral drugs used to treat liver disease

by limiting their uptake by other tissues and by red blood cells (erythrocytes).

This project is receiving funding from the East Midlands' bioKneX Industrial

Partnership Scheme. Other financial details were not disclosed.

Hepatitis, due to hepatitis C virus infection, is a growing problem already

affecting 150-200 million people worldwide. In recent years the pharmaceutical

industry has invested considerable sums in attempts to develop new drugs for

hepatitis C, but unfortunately nearly all of these drugs have failed in clinical

development, or have met with only limited commercial success, mainly due to

systemic toxicity.

Lipoxen and Nottingham University's present project is designed to address the

systemic toxicity of anti-hepatitis C drugs, which limits the dose at which they

can be administered and thereby compromises their efficacy, by engineering their

selective delivery to the liver using nanoparticles. By improving delivery of

the drug to the affected organ, the project seeks to greatly improve the

efficacy of anti-hepatitis C drugs by allowing them to be given at higher (i.e.

more effective) doses by limiting their systemic toxicity.

The two parties will initially work on developing a new proprietary " super

generic " formulation of ribavirin, the most commonly used antiviral drug to

treat viral hepatitis. This commercially attractive product, which will be based

on liposome or nanoparticle delivery, will be able to be used in combination

with PEG-IFN (pegylated - interferon). Ribavirin, in combination with PEG-IFN,

is the most commonly used treatment regime for viral hepatitis globally.

Once this has been achieved the two parties intend to look at improving the

delivery of other antiviral drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C that have

failed to reach the market due to problems which could potentially be resolved

by this novel formulation technology. Failed anti-hepatitis C drugs include

development candidates from, amongst others, GlaxoKline Boehringer

Ingelheim and Wyeth.

M. Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen, said: " We are very excited to be working with

the University of Nottingham on this project as we believe that by combining our

expertise in liposomal and nanoparticle drug formulation with their tissue

engineering and molecular virology expertise, we can develop a new " direct to

liver " delivery solution to improve the effectiveness of hepatitis C drugs. Our

intial target will be to demonstrate the value of this new delivery approach

using ribavirin the most widely used drug globally to treat viral hepatitis. "

" Once we have developed this new formulation we believe we can significantly

extend its commercial potential in the field drug delivery to the liver by

taking advantage of the opportunity to resurrect several 'near-miss' new drug

candidates from major pharma companies that were being developed for the

treatment of HCV infection. "

Will Irving, Professor of Virology at the University of Nottingham, said: " We

are delighted to be involved in this exciting project. If we can succeed in

delivering increased doses of ribavirin to the infected liver through our novel

delivery systems, it is highly likely we will improve treatment response rates,

which are currently limited mostly by the amount of ribavirin an individual

patient can tolerate. In addition, such a 'proof of principle' would open up

other opportunities for the use of powerful antiviral drugs that are also

limited by their systemic toxicities.

" We have a long-term research programme into many aspects of hepatitis C virus

infection in the University of Nottingham, and have developed systems in the

laboratory for testing drug activity which will underpin our experiments in this

project. Lipoxen have an established track record of production of liposomal

formulations, so this is an ideal partnership. In addition, we are planning to

test and compare polymer nanoparticle delivery vehicles with liposomes, taking

advantage of the considerable expertise in nanoparticle technology that exists

within the University of Nottingham. "

Hepatitis C Hepatitis-C is particularly serious in HIV-infected patients who are

now surviving longer due to the effectiveness of combination drug therapies

against HIV. Existing treatments for hepatitis C virus are only partially

effective. Even patients who do not have a HIV co-infection and who receive

" best standard of care " generally have only a 50-80% chance of being cured by

drug treatments. Patients who do not achieve cure are liable to develop

fibrosis, cirrhosis, cancer and failure of the liver, and may require liver

transplantation.

Posted November 5th, 2008

[Guest guest]

http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=8494

Using Nanoparticles to Treat Viral Hepatitis

Lipoxen PLC, a bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of

high value differentiated biologicals, vaccines and oncology drugs, announces

today that it has entered into a research agreement with the University of

Nottingham to develop new enhanced fomulations of antiviral drugs for the

treatment of important liver diseases such as viral hepatitis which is caused by

hepatitis C (HCV). The two parties will use novel proprietary formulations based

on liposome and nanoparticle delivery in order to achieve enhanced therapeutic

effects by delivering the drugs directly to the liver. This approach is also

expected to reduce the toxicity of anitviral drugs used to treat liver disease

by limiting their uptake by other tissues and by red blood cells (erythrocytes).

This project is receiving funding from the East Midlands' bioKneX Industrial

Partnership Scheme. Other financial details were not disclosed.

Hepatitis, due to hepatitis C virus infection, is a growing problem already

affecting 150-200 million people worldwide. In recent years the pharmaceutical

industry has invested considerable sums in attempts to develop new drugs for

hepatitis C, but unfortunately nearly all of these drugs have failed in clinical

development, or have met with only limited commercial success, mainly due to

systemic toxicity.

Lipoxen and Nottingham University's present project is designed to address the

systemic toxicity of anti-hepatitis C drugs, which limits the dose at which they

can be administered and thereby compromises their efficacy, by engineering their

selective delivery to the liver using nanoparticles. By improving delivery of

the drug to the affected organ, the project seeks to greatly improve the

efficacy of anti-hepatitis C drugs by allowing them to be given at higher (i.e.

more effective) doses by limiting their systemic toxicity.

The two parties will initially work on developing a new proprietary " super

generic " formulation of ribavirin, the most commonly used antiviral drug to

treat viral hepatitis. This commercially attractive product, which will be based

on liposome or nanoparticle delivery, will be able to be used in combination

with PEG-IFN (pegylated - interferon). Ribavirin, in combination with PEG-IFN,

is the most commonly used treatment regime for viral hepatitis globally.

Once this has been achieved the two parties intend to look at improving the

delivery of other antiviral drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C that have

failed to reach the market due to problems which could potentially be resolved

by this novel formulation technology. Failed anti-hepatitis C drugs include

development candidates from, amongst others, GlaxoKline Boehringer

Ingelheim and Wyeth.

M. Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen, said: " We are very excited to be working with

the University of Nottingham on this project as we believe that by combining our

expertise in liposomal and nanoparticle drug formulation with their tissue

engineering and molecular virology expertise, we can develop a new " direct to

liver " delivery solution to improve the effectiveness of hepatitis C drugs. Our

intial target will be to demonstrate the value of this new delivery approach

using ribavirin the most widely used drug globally to treat viral hepatitis. "

" Once we have developed this new formulation we believe we can significantly

extend its commercial potential in the field drug delivery to the liver by

taking advantage of the opportunity to resurrect several 'near-miss' new drug

candidates from major pharma companies that were being developed for the

treatment of HCV infection. "

Will Irving, Professor of Virology at the University of Nottingham, said: " We

are delighted to be involved in this exciting project. If we can succeed in

delivering increased doses of ribavirin to the infected liver through our novel

delivery systems, it is highly likely we will improve treatment response rates,

which are currently limited mostly by the amount of ribavirin an individual

patient can tolerate. In addition, such a 'proof of principle' would open up

other opportunities for the use of powerful antiviral drugs that are also

limited by their systemic toxicities.

" We have a long-term research programme into many aspects of hepatitis C virus

infection in the University of Nottingham, and have developed systems in the

laboratory for testing drug activity which will underpin our experiments in this

project. Lipoxen have an established track record of production of liposomal

formulations, so this is an ideal partnership. In addition, we are planning to

test and compare polymer nanoparticle delivery vehicles with liposomes, taking

advantage of the considerable expertise in nanoparticle technology that exists

within the University of Nottingham. "

Hepatitis C Hepatitis-C is particularly serious in HIV-infected patients who are

now surviving longer due to the effectiveness of combination drug therapies

against HIV. Existing treatments for hepatitis C virus are only partially

effective. Even patients who do not have a HIV co-infection and who receive

" best standard of care " generally have only a 50-80% chance of being cured by

drug treatments. Patients who do not achieve cure are liable to develop

fibrosis, cirrhosis, cancer and failure of the liver, and may require liver

transplantation.

Posted November 5th, 2008