Kevin Sill, Chief Science Officer of Intezyne Technology, has one ambitious objective: to find a better way to treat cancer. As scientists, oncologists, and too many cancer victims already know, treating cancer is anything but simple. Undeterred, Sill and his partner Habib Skaff began their research in 2004 and now have a viable solution ready for human clinical trials.
"How we do it is actually very simple," Sill says. "We try to get more of the drug to the site of the disease. If we can do that, then more of the drug interacts with diseased tissue and less interacts with healthy tissue, which makes existing drugs safer and more effective."
Sill says that he and Skaff, who are both synthetic chemists, met in their PhD program and began conceptually what eventually became their trademarked IVECT Method, a patented nanoparticle that is designed to circulate throughout the body longer than other nanoparticles do. "This allows it to have many passes through the patient’s body and preferentially accumulate in tumors based upon their size," Sill says.
"We also add complementary receptors. Think of it as a type of Velcro," Sill explains. "Every organ or type of cell has its own type of Velcro. With the correct type, we can get the drug to stick to the right type of tissue."
By increasing the circulation time, the IVECT Method helps increase the effectiveness of traditional treatments. "Chemotherapy is a game of statistics," Sill says, adding that chemotherapy essentially poisons the entire body in hopes of killing cancer cells faster than healthy cells. "Intezyne tries to shift those statistics so that we're affecting more of the cancer than the healthy tissue."
Poised to begin human clinical trials as soon as they receive FDA approval, Sill is rightfully optimistic. "It's taken awhile to go from paper chemistry to having a product in our hands, but we're there. The technology is working on animals." Sill further explains the first phase of trials will last about a year. Intezyne is expecting to receive the green light and begin trials in 2012. "The FDA's job is to make sure that what you're giving participants is going to be safe, and it won't adversely affect the patient. It also has to have a chance of working as well," he adds regarding the stringent application process.
While their focus is directed toward oncology, Sill believes the IVECT Method could have future possibilities with the treatment of Alzheimer's and inflammatory diseases like asthma and arthritis.
As a young company when the recession hit, Sill admitted that securing investors for their privately funded company was particularly difficult during 2008 and 2009, the same years they watched many small pharmaceutical companies close.
"The silver lining," Sill says, "is the economy forced us to look at the fundamentals of our technology and continue refining that. We were very thankful to get through that period." Once IVECT receives FDA approval, cancer patients will also be thankful that Sill and Skaff weathered the storm and pursued their quest to make cancer treatment safer and more effective.
www.intezyne.com
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