A nanoparticle device company that produces devices that could reduce drug-making costs has secured follow-on funding from a Pennsylvania economic development agency.
Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeast Pennsylvania invested $50,000 in the business in its latest funding round and has allocated a total of $400,000 to it since 2008.
Xigo Nanotools is based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and develops devices that pharmaceutical companies use for drug formulation development. The company plans to use the investment to make manufacturing preparations as it prepares to expand sales.
Its main instrument, the Acorn Area device, is a patented, shoebox-size device that rapidly measures the wetted surface area of nanoparticles using magnetic resonance imaging. The measurements tell pharmaceutical companies both the extent and the nature of the particle liquid interface.”Drugs generally have to be dissolved in order for them to provide a therapeutic benefit and the bioavailability of drugs is directly related to their wetted surface area,” said Sean Race, the co-founder of the company.
The company was co-founded by Race and Dr. David Fairhurst in 2005, and it started selling its devices in 2010. In response to emailed questions, Race said: “Most drugs are manufactured, delivered or consumed as suspensions of particles in a liquid. … If you can re-engineer the active particle ingredient (API) particles to achieve the same therapeutic benefit at a lower concentration, then you save more money, and less drug is metabolized, so there is a secondary benefit to the consumer.”
Nanoparticle properties are key predictors of material performance and there currently are no efficient methods to measure wetted nanoparticle surface area, according to a statement from Ben Franklin that describes the company. In addition to pharmaceuticals, the device also has applications for energy, electronics and ceramics.
The company worked with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) to establish its first beta site.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Race added: “In addition, we can provide information about the drug formulation such as physical stability, so we are involved in formulation development as well as process development and, in the long run, quality labs, although we don’t have any applications in pharma that well advanced.”
Race said the company is seeking to raise $2 million and is in investment discussions with a few different venture groups.
The use of nanoparticles has been a growing source of interest in medicine, particularly in the past decade, since nanoparticles could potentially be directed to specific, targeted cells such as cancer cells and be used to develop more targeted, tailored treatments for individuals. Some companies are developing gold nanoparticles to treat cancer, like CytImmune. Although there has been some criticism that the market forecast for nanoparticles has been overhyped at the expense of some potential risks, the outlook is still strong.
