The product, ANG1005, which is currently undergoing Phase I and II studies, uses a peptide vector, Angiopep, to transport paclitaxel across the BBB.
ANG1005 consists of Angiopep conjugated to three paclitaxel molecules, which exhibited a transport rate in rats 50 to 80 times greater than when the anti-cancer drug was administered alone.
Dr Jean-Paul Castaigne, CEO of AngioChem, said: “We know from our preclinical data that our platform Angiopep vector technology is able to deliver not only paclitaxel to the target brain cells but also any other type of drug, including peptides, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) siRNAs and other biologicals.
“We believe our Angiopep technology has the ability to transport these drug candidates across the blood-brain barrier, thus treat many diseases of the central nervous system.”
Angiopep’s claimed ability to transport a wide range of therapeutics, from small molecules to mAbs, creates the possibility that it could be used in the treatment of numerous diseases.
The BBB hinders the treatment of ailments including Alzheimer’s disease, brain cancer and psychiatric disorders, with AngioChem claiming the total market for brain diseases will be worth $105bn by 2015.
AngioChem’s pipeline includes a brain cancer treatment using doxorubicin, which it claims will enter preclinical in the next 12 months. In addition treatments using peptides, siRNA and mAbs are at the discovery stage for treating brain cancer as well as neurodegenerative and metabolic disorders.