Aphios Corporation Granted United States Patent For Solvent-Free Protein Nanotechnology.

Business/Technology Editors & Health/Medical Writers

WOBURN, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--May 3, 2000

Aphios Corporation was granted United States Patent No. 6,051,694 on April 18, 2000. The patent is entitled "Method for Size Reduction of Proteins," and is available for licensing.

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 nanospheres or implantable microspheres, or delivered to the lungs as an aerosol. With proteinaceous therapeutics, the generation of such fine particles is particularly problematic.

Aphios Corporation has developed a solvent-free protein nanoparticle formation or comminution process that uses nontoxic liquefied gases, compressed gases, or supercritical and near-critical fluids which have properties intermediate to gases and liquids (referred to as SuperFluids(TM)). The process forms small (0.5 - 5 um), monodisperse protein particles without first dissolving the material in a liquid solvent. The protein nanoparticles are not exposed to organic solvents, heat or oxygen (air), retain full activity and are devoid of residual processing chemicals such as solvents, salts, or surfactants. For certain enzymes, several fold enhanced bioactivity has been observed. The results of our research indicate that the SuperFluids(TM) comminution process is extremely robust for a wide range of proteins and particle sizes.

Nanotechnology is defined as the creation of functional materials, devices and systems through control of matter at the scale of nanometers (a billionth of a meter), and the exploitation of novel properties and phenomena at the same scale. "Nanotechnology is emerging as a field critical for enabling essential breakthroughs that may have tremendous potential for affecting biomedicine. e.g., controlled release delivery systems," National Institutes of Health, 1999.

Aphios Corporation's enabling protein nanotechnology process can benefit the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries by yielding improved delivery and efficacy of therapeutic products. The technique can be useful in obtaining a desired particle size in drug manufacture, and may also prove useful in terms of controlled release formulations such as polymeric nanospheres and aerosol delivery systems. According to its lead inventor, Dr. Trevor P. Castor: "The technique can thus improve the delivery of large protein macromolecules, and help resolve a significant barrier to the rapid proliferation of biotechnology drugs."

Aphios Corporation is a privately held, research and development company headquartered at 3-E Gill Street, Woburn, Massachusetts 01801, USA, tel: [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. The Company is developing therapeutics for health maintenance and the treatment of human diseases with a focus on CNS, cancer, and other infectious diseases.

For more information on Aphios Corporation, please visit us at http://www.aphios.com.