pSivida Corp., a leader in developing sustained release, drug delivery products for treatment of back-of-the-eye diseases, today announced that its President and CEO, Dr. Paul Ashton, will discuss “Cross Fertilization: Sustained Delivery and Nanotechnology in Ophthalmology” at an upcoming Formulation and Drug Delivery Committee Meeting of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council on Wednesday, October 17.
Dr. Ashton’s presentation will focus on delivery of peptides and proteins, primarily in ophthalmology. Currently the eye space is dominated by two anti-VEGF proteins, Roche/Genentech’s Lucentis® and Regeneron’s Eyelea.® Both of these drugs must be repeatedly injected directly into the eye, typically every one to two months. “The development of a sustained release protein delivery system would offer a significant advantage in ophthalmology,” said Dr. Paul Ashton, president and chief executive officer of pSivida. “pSivida is presently developing such a delivery system, called Tethadur™, which is based on the company’s BioSilicon technology platform. This delivery system could also have a significant clinical impact outside of ophthalmology for diseases requiring systemic administration, particularly in the BioSimilars era.”
Tethadur is designed to provide sustained delivery of biologic molecules, including proteins, antibodies and peptides. It is composed of nanostructured porous material, in which the sizes of the pores are manufactured to accommodate specific protein, peptide or antibody molecules. “Very simply put, Tethadur can be viewed as a high tech egg box where each protein molecule is contained in its own spot until it is released,” said Dr. Ashton. “We are able to control the release rate of a drug by controlling the pore size of the Tethadur delivery material.”
pSivida recently announced a technology evaluation agreement with a leading global biopharmaceutical company to evaluate Tethadur in the field of ophthalmology. “Although we are at the very early stages with Tethadur, the potential improvement in patient care and clinical outcomes could be highly significant,” Dr. Ashton stated. “We have already been successful in this field, working with partners we have developed three of the four sustained release devices for ophthalmic drugs approved in either the US or the EU.”
The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio), a not-for-profit organization that represents and provides services and support for the Massachusetts biotechnology industry, is the nation’s oldest biotechnology trade association. Founded in 1985, MassBio is committed to advancing the development of critical new science, technology and medicines that benefit people worldwide.
Source: http://www.psivida.com