Other research being conducted is investigating biological molecules that could potentially use the Nanosystems technology to improve or enable their delivery through oral, dermal or nasal routes. The effective and patient-friendly delivery of these molecule classes is an important unmet need and offers significant market potential.

Insulin and Heparine (oral and nasal)

Drugs such as peptides or polysaccharides can be effectively administered orally when they are encapsulated and protected inside our technology. With this technology, the active molecule administered is protected inside the nanosystems as they are stable against breakdown by the gastric fluids. In addition, their mucoadhesive properties enhance the time of adhesion to the intestine walls, thus facilitating more effective absorption of the active molecule.

The most advanced prototypes in this platform are formulations developed for the oral administration of heparin and insulin with the aim of providing an alternative to the parenteral route. In studies (in rats) where they were attached to chitosan-based nanoparticles and administered orally, the pharmacokinetic profiles of heparin and insulin showed delayed plasma peaks (6 and 12 hours post-administration, respectively) and a higher bioavailability that was enhanced approximately 2-3 times. Both proofs-of-concept have verified that these technologies enhance the systemic absorption of active molecules.

RNA interference (siRNA)

RNA interference, such as siRNA, offers significant promise for a host of therapeutic treatments. Nevertheless, the great potential of these molecules for gene silencing suffers from important limitations, such as the difficulty to overcome the cell membrane and rapid degradation by ubiquitous nucleases. Thus, delivery is a key determinant as to whether or not RNA interference-based therapeutics will have clinical relevance. ADVANCELL have demonstrated that its nanosystems are able to efficiently associate and protect siRNA, successfully deliver it to the cells and elicit high inhibition levels of target gene expression, up to 66% in vitro (cell cultures) and 75% in vivo (after oral administration to mice).

Plasmid DNA (gene therapy)

The joint venture Fenix Biotech was set up by ADVANCELL and GENETRIX with the aim of developing new therapies based on Nanomedicine for the treatment of monogenic diseases. The aim of the project is to carry out a quick and focused proof-of-concept study to validate the technology of DNA nano-encapsulation to treat Epidermolysis bullosa (EB), an Orphan disease which has been chosen as the first indication to be explored. The nanoencapsulated plasmid, through non-integrative vectors, is expected to express the proteins that these patients lack, avoiding major safety concerns. Fenix Biotech has recently obtained very promising results in different relevant cell lines, such as human fibroblasts and keratinocytes, where the tested nanosystems showed a great ability to elicit high expression levels of the plasmid encoded therapeutic protein.