The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia’s spin-out start-up company, Vascular Magnetics has amassed $7 million to develop a novel drug delivery system called vascular magnetic intervention utilizing magnetically targeted nanoparticles for the treatment of peripheral artery disease.
According to Vascular Magnetics located in West Philadelphia, in this Series A financing deal, the sole investor is Devon Park Bioventures based in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
The co-founders of Vascular Magnetics are The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia’s Rashkind Endowed Chair of Pediatric Cardiology, Robert J. Levy, and Richard S. Woodward, who is also the founding scientist, President and Chief Executive Officer. The proprietary drug delivery system is based on Woodward’s extensive lab work. The company is the exclusive licensee of the technology discovered by Levy's team of cardiology researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Vascular magnetic intervention system comprises a device that generates a homogeneous magnetic field and biodegradable, magnetic drug-loaded nanoparticles along with a magnetic targeting catheter. In animal testing by Levy, the system led the particles towards the walls of arteries contracted by peripheral artery disease. The drug-loaded nanoparticles stayed in the disease site and gradually biodegraded and released the drug paclitaxel, which stops the artery’s re-obstruction.
Existing drug-eluting stents utilized in heart disease are less efficient in treating peripheral artery disease. Levy believes that magnetic intervention is capable of delivering more-effective dosages of drugs when compared to typical drug-eluting stents and re-administering drugs when required. It is adaptable to deliver other agents like therapeutic genes or cells and is capable of treating heart diseases in children. Vascular Magnetics will wrap up its technology’s preclinical development in the near future and intends to start its maiden clinical trial in adult patients in 2014.
Source: http://www.vascularmagnetics.com