NanoMed Pharmaceuticals Awarded STTR for Nanotemplate Engineering of a Novel Molecular Imaging Agent

KALAMAZOO, MI., (September 7, 2006) - NanoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an advanced drug delivery company developing nanoparticle-based therapeutic and diagnostic products to treat or detect disease, announced today that it has been awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering for "Nanotemplate Engineering of a Stealth MRI Contrast Agent." The work funded by this Phase I grant will be completed at the company's laboratory located in the University of Kentucky's Advanced Science & Technology Commercialization Center.

NanoMed, in collaboration with co-founder Michael Jay, PhD, is developing the novel nanoparticle molecular imaging enhancement agent to provide superior magnetic resonance images and enable the early diagnosis of tumors and rapid intervention in the treatment of cancer. Nanoparticles, manufactured using the company's proprietary Nanotemplate Engineering technology and containing accessible gadolinium (Gd) atoms, can be selectively sequestered in tumors through Enhanced Permeation & Retention (EPR). NanoMed has utilized DTPA-PE to bind Gd to the surface of these novel nanoparticles without the need for energy-intensive microfluidization and with significantly less-expensive USP-grade materials. The company's preliminary data demonstrate that these novel nanoparticles have the potential to serve as next-generation contrast agents for tumor imaging by MRI. In addition, dual therapeutic/molecular imaging nanovectors can be created by entrapping chemotherapeutic agents (e.g. paclitaxel) in Gd-containing nanoparticles. Previously, NanoMed demonstrated in-vivo efficacy of its novel paclitaxel nanoparticles in paclitaxel-resistant human colorectal tumors in an animal model.

About NanoMed
NanoMed Pharmaceuticals®, Inc. (www.nanomedpharm.com) is an advanced drug delivery company developing nanoparticle-based therapeutic and diagnostic products to treat or detect disease. The Company's initial focus is cancer therapeutics and diagnostics. NanoMed's core technology, Nanotemplate Engineering™, is a nanoparticle manufacturing process used to formulate small molecules, peptides, proteins, plasmid DNA, and diagnostic agents. The company is headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

 

 

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