BGU Scientists develop a Unique and Smart Delivery System of Medications to the Brain
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Licenses Breakthrough Drug Delivery Platform for Central Nervous System Diseases to New York Biotech Company
Despite great advances in therapeutic drugs, the problem of unwanted side effects remains a serious obstacle to treatment. Most adverse effects are the result of interaction of the drugs with places in the patient’s body that are not relevant to their medicinal action.
An innovative delivery system which increases the availability of medications at target locations and reduces their side-effects and toxicity has been developed by a team of BGU scientists. The breakthrough system, called V-Smart™ drug delivery technology, is of particular interest in developing treatments of diseases that affect the central nervous system, as well as brain malignancies.
The revolutionary technology which uses microscopic bubble-like membranous structures known as vesicles was developed by BGU researchers Dr. Sarina Grinberg of the Dept. of Chemistry, Dr. Charles Linder of the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering and Prof. Emeritus Eli Heldman of the Dept. of Clinical Biochemistry.
The scientists demonstrated in animal studies that V-Smart™ vesicles administered intravenously or orally can deliver encapsulated material such as analgesic peptides into the brain and achieve excellent analgesic effect. The V-Smart™ technology is based on nano-sized vesicles formed from a combination of specifically designed bolaamphiphiles. The nanovesicles are highly stable and provide a controlled release mechanism which allows the drug to pass through biological barriers, including the blood brain barrier (BBB) targeting specific cells and tissues. The technology pinpoints where the drug will be released in the brain, increasing efficacy and reducing adverse effects.
BGN Technologies, the technology transfer company for BGU, signed a licensing agreement for its V-Smart™ drug delivery technology with Lauren Sciences LLC, a privately held biotechnology company in New York. Lauren Sciences is developing the technology as a platform for treating a variety of diseases that affect the central nervous system (CNS), including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), as well as brain malignancies.
Lauren Sciences and BGU were recently awarded two prestigious research grants, from the Michael J. Fox Foundation to develop a V-Smart™ for the delivery of proteins for the treatment of Parkinson's disease; and from the Campbell Foundation for the delivery of the antiretroviral drug Tenofovir for treatment of neuro-HIV. " Our goal is to transport encapsulated small molecules, peptides, proteins and nucleic acids, across the BBB and release them in the brain where their activity is needed" We hope that the success of these projects will improve these patients' lives." says Prof. Eliahu Heldman, who also serves as Chief Scientific Officer of Lauren Sciences.
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