The technology is based on a naturally occurring polysialic acid, which extends active life of a protein. PSA is biodegradable, non-immunogenic and non-toxic and is, therefore, expected to avoid the toxicity attributed to polyethylene glycol (PEG) in PEGylated protein drug candidates.
Reportedly, PolyXen technology helps StimuXen attach polysialic acid onto the N-terminal of G-CSF to produce polysialylated G-CSF. Preclinical work with StimuXen has shown improved pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, which are similar to those of the longest-acting version of G-CSF on the market, whose patent expires in 2015.
Scott Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen, said: “We are confident that StimuXen, which is currently in pre-clinical development, could be as successful as our two potential billion dollar block-buster products in clinical development, SuliXen, a long acting insulin, and ErepoXen, a long-acting erythropoietin (EPO) both of which are based on this PolyXen technology.”