Painless, low cost and safe bioactive delivery system.
Benefits
- Painless application by gentle massage.
- Can be added to a range of existing formulations including ointments, solutions, creams and gels.
- Low cost manufacture at high volume.
- Microparticles are removed within a ~3 week period via natural turnover of the skin.
Background
Drugs delivered orally are often degraded in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and the liver, lowering their efficacy.
Cutaneous drug delivery offers an alternative as it circumvents the GI tract and liver. It can also be advantageous for skin-related diseases such as skin cancers and acne. The key challenge however, is to penetrate the epidermal layers.
Several approaches are being developed for cutaneous drug delivery:
- Micro-needles: They deliver drugs by physically disrupting the skin. However, the efficiency is greatly influenced by the physical characteristics of the needles and tissue.
- Liposome-based: This method uses particles called lipsomes to encapsulate drugs. This requires separate mechanisms, such as sonophoresis, to disrupt the skin and allow drug penetration.
Technology
ForodermTM is a unique drug delivery platform that uses novel elongate microparticles (EMP) for the cutaneous delivery of a wide range of drug payloads including: small molecules, peptides, proteins, nanoparticles, vaccines, nutraceuticals and cosmetics.
The microparticles are not attached to any solid support, as in micro-needles, allowing application to large areas of skin. Penetration of the stratum corneum by the microparticles creates pathways for delivery. ForodermTM can also be used to deliver bioactive agents to mucosal surfaces; or added directly to existing topical formulations (solutions, gels, cream, ointments etc).
Potential Markets
Foroderm™ has a wide range of potential applications:
- Delivery of drugs for skin conditions and cosmeceuticals (e.g. treatments for actinic keratosis or psoriasis)
- Delivery of vaccines
- Delivery of pain-related therapeutics (e.g. lower back pain, osteoarthritic pain, post-herpetic pain).
- Animal health (e.g. herd vaccination).
IP Status
A PCT application describes the composition and use of ForodermTM with national filings under examination.
Partnering Opportunities
We are interested in licenses and co-development activities in various application fields. We would encourage discussions regarding sponsored research programs in fields of interest with an option to license the background intellectual property.
