Nanopils originates from an ERC Starting Grant project from EU and the collaboration between Politecnico and Università di Torino.
Nanopils develops biomimetic nanoparticles, like small Trojan Horses, able to transport one or more drugs to perform a combination and targeted therapy against the major tumor diseases.
Nanopils improves the efficacy, the biodistribution, and the bioavailability of drugs which have failed the clinical translations due to these problems.
Patent status
SUBMITTED
Priority Number
102017000129243
Priority Date
13/11/2017
License
INTERNATIONAL
Market
The total estimated market sales for 2024 is of 237 B$, 19,4% is in the field of prescription drugs.
Biotech therapies will cover within 2024 the 50% of the sales in this field.
To take chance of the flexibility and modularity of Nanopils technology. The maked will be approached segment by segment over time and in a specific way.
Problem
Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide after cardiovascular diseases. May tumors are still without a resolutive therapy, while many develop drug resistance after the first treatment. This increases the relapse probability and produces heavy effects on patient’s health, increasing their mortality.
– Focus on MULTIPLE MIELOMA: it is a blood tumor, the second most incident one, with 2% of diagnosed cases among the overall cancer diagnoses. In Italy, 30’000 cases and 13’000 deaths are associated to multiple mieloma. The relapse is also higher than 90%. It is treated with drugs such as proteasome inhhibitors, most of times combined with immunomodulatory imide drugs (IMiDs). Costs of therapy are very high (in US, the drug cost for multiple mieloma treatment is of 50- 100k€/year per patient).
Current Technology Limitations
FOCUS ON MULTIPLE MIELOMA: Among the present solutions, «conventinal» therapies are in place:
Chemiotherapy: Oral or endovenous administration of drugs. For multiple mieloma, mono-therapy or combination therapies with PROTEASOME INHIBITORS (PI: Bortezomib, Carfilzomib, Ixazomib ) + Immunomodulatory imide drugs (IMiDs: Lenalidomide+bortezomib). Disadvantages are disease progression, frequent relapses, drug resistance development.
Autologous Stem Cell transplantation: Treatment able to originate a new bone marrow, reconstituting the hematopoietic system of the patient, which is strongly compromised by this disease. This therapy is only partially efficaceous, is combined with chemotherapy in high doses, and is not applicable to other tumors, i.e. solid ones.
Car-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor) cell therapy: It acts on the immune system of the patient enabling the recognition and fight of the tumor cells. It is a new experimental therapy, personalized for the patient, but it is characterized by very high costs and requires highly specialized laboratories and biotech companies.
Killer Application
The Beachhead Market is Multiple Mieloma: The idea is to validate the technology, create a reputation, then extend on other market segments.
We propose to create partnership with big Pharma companies (i.e. Novartis) and/or othe SME of the field (i.e. Innocore)
Our Technology and solutions
Nanopils is a patented technology based on smart, biocompatible and biomimetic nanocarriers for an efficient drug delivery and cell-targeted approach. The nanoparticles was developed by Prof. Valentina Cauda, TNH Lab – Politecnico di Torino, to obtain a nanosystem with: high drugs adsorption and retention, high stability over time even in blood, lower drugs dose and higher biodistribution in patient’s organism than conventional oral or endovenous administration.
The synergistic combination of two drugs was discovered by Prof. Roberto Piva, MBC-Università di Torino, showing such synergistic action between a proteasome inhibitor and another drug, which has however failed the clinical traslation due to low bidistribution. However, when both drug are nano-carried, they show a potent cytotoxicity already in sub-lethal doses and only when administered together.
Advantages
Nanopils consists in 2 synergistic drugs nanocarried by a biomimetic and targeted system:
Roadmap
TODAY the technology is at TRL 4:
In 1 year: TRL 5
TRL
