nanotechnology

Nanotech start-up offers 3D picture of a cell

John Carroll — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:03:19 -0400

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have launched a nanotech company--called PixelEXX Systems--which intends to advance the use of nanoarrays in drug research. The founders say that nanosensors can now produce an accurate 3D image of a cell that can measure its response to a drug.

"Nanoarrays are a new way of imaging cells," said Dr. Samuel Wickline in a statement. "A researcher can look at a living cell with nano-sized sensors to get a more detailed picture of the cell, its internal structures, and how those parts function."

- read the report fom the St. Louis Business Journal

Nanotech investment will have payoff

Maureen Martino — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:28:47 -0400

A recent report by Credit Suisse analysts found that investing in medical nanotechnology could have a real payoff in the coming years. Oncology and CNS diseases in particular will be a target for nanotech drug developers, which include, Flamel Technologies, Sandvik and Orthovita. Intellectual property and the attitudes of agencies faced with regulating nanotech trials will prove to be challenges, however. Report

Emerging Drug Developer: Bind Biosciences

John Carroll — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:09:14 -0500

Bind Biosciences hopes to get big on small tech

Somewhere between leaving the top job at Acceleron Pharma and jumping onto the start-up Bind Biosciences, Glenn Batchelder (pictured) learned anew that a willingness to embrace rapid change is an absolutely essential requirement for success in biotechnology.

“I think flexibility in this environment is probably one of the better assets to have,” he says, with barely a hint of irony.

A list of close connections helps too.

So it was that Batchelder’s contacts at Polaris Ventures Partners, which was backing Acceleron, alerted him to the opportunity at Bind, which was also supported in a seed round by Flagship Ventures – another Acceleron investor.

“It was something that Bob Langer and Omid Farokhzad had been working on and thinking about for some extended period of time,” says Batchelder, referring to Bind’s scientific founders, the MIT Institute professor and Harvard Medical School assistant professor of anesthesiology who had studied under Langer. “Bob has started a number of companies with Polaris as an initial investor.”

One of those companies was Momenta Pharmaceuticals, which raised $275 million before going public three years ago. That was one big attraction for Batchelder. Another lure was the opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

“This is my sweet spot in terms of what I do regarding stage of company,” he says.

“People have been thinking about this concept of delivering a targeted payload for decades,” adds Batchelder. “It turns out that there are a series of physiological challenges that need to be overcome to effectively deliver a targeted payload. You need to have particles accumulate at the site of the disease and as they migrate through the body they should stay below the radar of the immune system. Then they have to bind with specificity and release in a controlled and reproducible fashion.

Nanotechnology can play a big role here. By reducing therapeutics to microscopic sizes and putting them in nano-sized packages that can be delivered right on target, researchers can change the compound sufficiently to gain ownership of the newly constituted drug while the rifle approach skirts the collateral damage of shotgun therapies like chemotherapy. It’s not unusual to find research teams beavering away at advancing new nanoparticles that can do just that.

Where Bind breaks new ground, says Batchelder, is by using its technology to build a combinatorial library of particles that can be cherry-picked for each new program. They don’t have one nanoparticle in the lab; they can have a whole string of them. For now, there are two programs in preclinical development for oncology and cardiovascular disease, and Batchelder isn’t going into any detail on how those work – yet.

The polymers that are in the Bind lab are already well understood. And by reformulating approved drugs, says the CEO, the biotech can also rely on compounds that have a proven safety profile.

“We’re taking polymers and approved drugs and finding a way to change how they concentrate more where you want them as opposed to less,” says Batchelder. “It’s a dramatically de-risked program.”

Bind has the chance to develop its own therapeutics, with two of the best known scientists in the field actively working to make it succeed. And Cambridge, MA-based Bind can forge partnerships with other biopharma companies that would like to advance their own nanotechnology programs. Bind already has one small partnership pact completed, says Batchelder, who’s also playing that card close to his vest. Others are in the works, and that non-dilutive cash should play a significant role in funding Bind’s future growth.

Polaris and Flagship together got the company off the ground with a seed round of $2.5 million at the beginning of the year. A few days ago, they were joined by Arch Ventures and NanoDimension in a $16 million Series B.

Right now, Bind has 15 staffers and is planning to hire on about five more by the end of this year. Top staffers include Stephen Zale, Ph.D., the vice president of development and Jeff Hrkach, Ph.D., vice president, pharmaceutical sciences. By the end of next year, when Bind is planning to be on the verge of entering the clinic with its first program, Batchelder expects payroll to grow to the low 30s.

Long-term, Batchelder says he’d like to grow Bind into an industry powerhouse, with a public listing somewhere in the future. And if that doesn’t work out, he can be flexible.

Ablynx plots IPO to advance nanobody pipeline

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:59:56 -0400

Belgium's Ablynx, which is developing a pipeline of Nanobody-based therapeutics, is planning to go public. There's no word on how big the offering is intended to be, but the biotech has raised close to $100 million in venture funds to develop tiny antibody-based therapies. Nanobodies, explains Ablynx, are a class of therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments which have been generated against more than 100 different disease targets.

- check out the release on the IPO plans

Related Articles:
Boehringer, Ablynx team up on nanobodies. Report
Ablynx inks $265M 'nanobody' development deal. Report
Ablynx inks licensing deal for nanobodies. Report
Ablynx pockets $50M in third round. Report

Read more on: Ablynx | Nanotechnology

Nanotech is promising, but faces hurdles

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Nanotech is promising, but faces hurdles

Dwight Seferos, PhD, a researcher at the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University, held a sizable audience in thrall for nearly an hour at the 13th European Federation of Biotechnology meeting in Barcelona.

He had a good topic. Researchers at the institute have used oligonucleotides--a short piece of DNA known for its ability to bind to complementary DNA--to effectively disperse nanomaterials inside a variety of cell lines. There's good potential to use this technology to dispatch nanoparticles inside a patient's body to deliver therapeutic agents, Seferos told the group. The same approach, for example, could be effective in targeting cancer cells, killing them or leaving them vulnerable to chemotherapy.

Chad Mirkin, the director of the institute and a founder of Nanosphere and NanoInk, has been a leader in using atomic force microscope tips to make nanoscale materials, putting on one atomic layer at a time as he delves into a world that is one to 100 nanometers in size.

Translating that kind of technology to the bedside won't be easy, though--particularly in Europe, where government regulators have turned a cold shoulder to expensive new therapies. That message was sent loud and clear just a few hours after Seferos wrapped his presentation.

In front of a smaller but no less avid audience, Mike Eaton, PhD, the head of biological chemistry at the giant UCB, outlined the barriers that are standing in the way of nanotechnology.

As promising as many of these research projects are, he said, developers have to keep in mind that financial obstacles can easily thwart new therapeutic approaches. To illustrate that, he noted the fate of abatacept, a nanotherapeutic known commercially in the U.S. as Orencia, which had achieved a 50 percent reduction in symptoms among 40 percent of patients taking the therapy--solid proof of efficacy. Abatecept works at the T cell level, preventing a chain cellular reaction that causes rheumatoid arthritis. But abatacept costs about €9,300 a year, and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the U.K.'s drug watchdog, turned it down flat.

Anyone looking to advance a nanotech approach to medicine, he says, needs to factor in that European regulators, at least, are unlikely to give a green light to any therapy that costs more than €5,000 a year. Said Eaton: "Significant benefits will be needed to counteract complexity."

But there are also some important clinical considerations to consider, as well, added Eaton. For example, if gold nanoparticles are used in the way Seferos described in his presentation, regulators will want to know precisely how the metals will be disposed in the body and exactly how it will be entirely flushed out of the system. In vivo analysis will be essential.

The ability to efficiently manufacture nanotherapeutics will also be tough, he says. Small companies have a key role to play here, said Eaton, because they have the kind of flexibility that can advance innovative approaches to new therapies. But the demands on nanotherapeutics will be considerable, demanding the involvement of big companies with deep pockets. A company like UCB, he noted, has 14,000 employees, and it would take a company at least half that size to advance a nanotherapeutic into clinical practice.

The bottom line here: The science of small will need Big Pharma to make it in the commercial world of approved therapeutics. - John Carroll

Venture capitalists bet big on nanotechnology

Maureen Martino — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:42:42 -0400

Venture capitalists are always looking for the next big thing to invest in—and hopefully make loads of cash from. Several investors think they have found just the ticket. These VCs are homing in on companies using nanotechnology to make therapies that destroy cancerous tumors but bypass healthy cells. By encasing drugs in nanoparticles that target only diseased cells, many of the unpleasant side-effects the result from cancer treatment can be avoided.

The first nanoparticle was approved in 1995. Doxil used miniscule fat bubbles (called liposomes) to encapsulate the chemotherapy doxorubicin. Most of the time the bubbles circulated in the blood without a problem, slowly releasing the doxorubicin, but about 10 percent of the bubbles burst, compromising healthy tissue.

Now several companies are looking beyond liposomes to find other forms of nanotechnology that could revolutionize the way cancer is treated:

BIND Biosciences has a pre-clinical nanoparticle that enters the tumor and releases its drug. The company expects to have a drug for either cancer or cardiovascular disease in the clinic by 2009, and won $2.5 million in VC back in January to support its work. Investors included Polaris Ventures and Flagship Ventures.
Tempo Pharmaceuticals has a drug in the works that penetrates tumors and releases two drugs--one to collapse the tumor vasculature and another that gradually releases chemo. Tempo landed $12.1 million in VC in May (also from Polaris), which should help it push a drug into the clinic.
Avidimer Therapeutics’ nanoparticle (called a dendrimer) is shaped like a tree, with the chemo drug methotrexate attached to its branches. Once the dendrimer gets lodged inside the tumor, the tumor is unable to expel the lethal methotrexate. With help from Flagship Ventures and North Coast Technology Investors, Avidimer closed its first-round of funding in August.
Intradigm is pairing nanotechnology with the hot field of RNAi to achieve effective delivery siRNA molecules (one of the two types of RNA); the company gained a hefty $16 million in VC for its work. Alta Partners and Frazier Healthcare Ventures led the round.

For more on VC’s interest in nanotechnology
- read this Wall Street Journal article

Related Articles:
FDA to address nanotechnology standards. Report
Fat bubbles used to deliver chemo. Report
Hot nanoprobes used to slow tumor growth. Report
Nanoparticles used to destroy tumors. Report
"Scrap" DNA can turn off tumor cell division. Report

FDA to address nanotechnology standards

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:59:54 -0400

Nanotechnology has enormous potential to revolutionize the drug, medical device, cosmetic and food industries, but according to a new report, the FDA lacks a standard regulatory procedure for approving nanotech products. Last August the FDA created a task force to advise the agency on nanotech products to boost the agency's oversight of the technology. Now the FDA's Nanotechnology Task Force has concluded that the agency doesn't have the expertise, tools or regulatory pathways needed to assess the impact of nanotech drugs and medical devices on human health. In order for nanotechnology to safely achieve its potential, the task force recommends that the FDA take a number of steps to increase its in-house expertise and standardize the nanotech review process.

"Nanotechnology holds enormous potential for use in a vast array of products," said FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D. "Recognizing the emerging nature of this technology and its potential for rapid development, this report fosters the continued development of innovative, safe and effective FDA-regulated products that use nanotechnology materials.

- read this article for more
- check out the full FDA report

Related Articles:
FDA gathers expert advice on bionanotech. Report
The risks and rewards of nanotechnology. Report
Nanotech grows more common in drug dev research. Report

Korea blueprints $14.3B biotech investment plan

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:01:34 -0500

Korea's government has unveiled plans to invest $14.3 billion into the country's biotech industry to support research and commercialization efforts. Korea's goal is to push the biotech industry to become a $60 billion market by 2016. The government wants to integrate biotech work with advances in genomics, information technology and nanotechnology. There are also plans to provide clear ethical oversight to make sure there's no repeat of the recent humiliating scandal over faked research by Hwang Woo-suk.

- here's the report from The Korea Times

Related Articles:
Top five regions targeting biotech companies. Report
Magazine retracts discredited paper on embryonic stem cells. Report

ALSO NOTED: Memory suspends trial; FDA rejects Cytomedix claim;and much more...

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:01:30 -0400

> Memory Pharmaceuticals has suspended a midstage trial of its Alzheimer's therapy as it addresses the FDA's request for more information on revisions to toxicology reports. Report

> The FDA has rejected Cytomedix's claim that its AutoloGel wound healing gel is equivalent to similar therapies on the market. Report

> Dr. Mauro Ferrari, a cancer nanotechnology authority, has announced the launch of Leonardo BioSystems, a new company that will focus on nanotechnology-based cancer therapeutics. Release

> Sanofi-Aventis has sold its remaining stake in Rhodia to BNP Paribas for $228 million. Report

> The Philadelphia Inquirer profiles Beijing Med-Pharm, a Chinese company that boasts a soup-to-nuts approach to biopharma. Med-Pharm says it can handle everything from clinical trials to distribution of approved pharmaceuticals. At $11.7 billion, the country's drug market is small, but growing fast. IMS Health expects the market to become the seventh-largest worldwide in three years. And companies like Med-Pharm are hoping to cash in on the explosive growth. Article

> Arbor Vita and NoNO have partnered to develop and commercialize drugs for the treatment of stroke. The R&D collaboration combines Arbor Vita's PDZ-based drug discovery platform with NoNO's expertise in the area of neurological disorders. Release

> Several drug developers are advancing therapies for Alzheimer's and unveiling data that suggests they may be of some help in averting cognitive decline. Some observers say that there could be significant new therapies for the ailment in as little as three years. That would be helpful, as a number of researchers have derided the current slate of Alzheimer's therapies as being almost useless. Article (WSJ sub. req.)

> Genta has won orphan drug status for Genasense in Australia. Report

> Bio-Rad Laboratories has completed the acquisition of Blackhawk Biosystems. Report

And Finally... A new study questions a government's panel recommendations to reduce LDL levels to a specific, low level. Article

FDA cautioned to better regulate nanomaterials

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:01:37 -0400

A public hearing called by the FDA turned into a forum to criticize the agency for what was described as a lax attitude toward regulating the nanomaterials being used in new therapies and consumer products. Some of the FDA's harshest critics say that the FDA has become a cheerleader for nanotechnology instead of a watchdog for potentially hazardous products. Others noted that a variety of nanobio products have been incorporated into new therapies with little or nothing being done to track safety. And some cautioned that the FDA needs to do a better job of managing risk without throttling the field with over-regulation. The FDA has become something of a punching bag since the IOM released its report calling for wholesale reform of the agency. And each new criticism is adding pressure for significant change.

"New nano-enabled drugs and medical devices...place burdens on an oversight agency that is already stretched extremely thin," David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, told the forum.

- Here's Newsweek's report on the FDA

NanoBio gains $30M to develop nanoemulsion

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 20:01:38 -0400

Six-year-old NanoBio has gained $30 million in new capital to help develop its nanoemulsion technology. Nanoemulsion involves microscopic sized droplets that are surface active which tear into the membrane of an infectious organism, killing it. It's first product for cold sores is poised to enter Phase III and researchers are also studying the approach as a way to treat influenza. NanoBio was founded by Dr. James R. Baker, Jr., the Ruth Dow Doan Professor of Biologic Nanotechnology at the University of Michigan. Perseus provided the funding.

"There is great promise for vaccines based on this technology because they can be administered without the use of needles or refrigeration," Baker said. "Nanotechnology-based vaccines have tremendous opportunities for applications in developing countries."

- read the release on the equity deal

Nanosphere pockets $57M in VC

Mon, 15 May 2006 20:01:38 -0400

Nanosphere, a nanotechnology-based molecular diagnostics company, has lined up $57 million in venture capital to commercialize a new and more efficient method for gene and protein testing. The company says its ultra-sensitive technology is able to look for minute levels of materials, helping to determine at an early stage if someone may be susceptible to disease. The technology was originally developed at the Nanotechnology Institute at Northwestern University. Bain Capital led the round for Nanosphere, which had earlier lined up $53 million in VC funds.

- read this article from the Chicago Sun-Times for more information

ALSO: Canada's Viron Therapeutics has raised $20 million in its first round. Release

SPOTLIGHT: BioSante reports adjuvant success

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:01:33 -0400

Shares of BioSante Pharmaceuticals were buoyed by the news that its vaccine adjuvant produced more bird flu antibodies in an animal study. BioVant is being developed with the company's calcium phosphate nanotechnology, which uses microscopic materials to deliver therapies. BioVant demonstrated steadily rising antibody levels over the 10 weeks of the study. Adjuvants are considered a vital ingredient in making bird flu vaccines effective for large numbers of people. Report

ALSO NOTED: CombiMatrix, Novavax develop vaccine tracking; Chemokine sees positive early results; and much more...

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:00:50 -0500

> CombiMatrix and Novavax are developing a process to improve synthetic vaccine production. The technology will monitor the genetic fidelity of the genes encoding the vaccine in the fermentation process. Release

> Chemokine has received positive results from its preclinical testing of CTCE-9908 for prostate cancer. Release

> India-based Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has purchased Roche's manufacturing site in Cuernavaca, Mexico, including all employees and business supply contracts. Release

> UK-based iQur, a liver disease company, has secured ₤2.6 million in financing. Release

And Finally... Is the next Bill Gates already among us? BusinessWeek explores the possible synergy between nanotechnology, genetic engineering and computer technology that could make them all blockbuster industries. Article

ALSO NOTED: Avanir selling $16M in shares; Genaera reports positive prelim data; 5T4 antibody-targeted therapy advances; and mu

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 20:00:50 -0400

> Avanir Pharmaceuticals plans to sell $16.15 million of its shares to a select group of buyers. Release

> Genaera said that it recorded positive preliminary data from a Phase II trial of Evizon with concomitant photodynamic therapy with Visudyne in 45 subjects with wet age-related macular degeneration. Release

> Oxford BioMedica said company licensee Wyeth reported significant preclinical results for its 5T4 antibody-targeted therapy for the treatment of solid tumors. Release

> Beijing Med-Pharm has raised $6.3 million in a private placement. Release

And Finally... Indian officials have inked a pact with Johns Hopkins for the exchange of data and collaborative projects on biotechnology and nanotechnology. Article

In Focus: CytImmune preps human trials for new nano-based therapy

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 20:01:36 -0400

The Washington Business Journal profiles CytImmune, a Rockville, Maryland-based drug developer that says it is close to arranging $5 million in venture capital to push its nano-based therapies into human trials. CytImmune relies on colloidal gold nanoparticles to carry drugs through the blood stream that it hopes will better focus specifically on tumors. Local economic development officials say that nanotechnology could play a key role in expanding Maryland's biotech industry. Another company, Protiverus, is involved in making nanotech instruments for research work.

- for more on the story, see the Washington Business Journal

DEALS: Qiagen buys key assets

Wed, 03 Aug 2005 20:01:32 -0400

Qiagen buys key assets

DEALS
WHO	WITH	WHAT	SCOOP
Altana	Eckhart	$768 million buyout	Once the deal is complete, Altana will add Eckhart's chemicals and pigments unit to its chemicals division and spin the venture off as a separate company.
Qiagen	SuNyx	asset buyout	Qiagen buys technology that examines sample preparation by leveraging unique, nanotechnology-based surface structures.
Qiagen	LumiCyte	asset buyout	LumiCyte has been developing capability that dramatically increases the limits of detection achievable through mass spectroscopy.