Cancer researchers are increasingly turning to innovative new therapies based on nanoparticles, which passively target weaker-walled cancer cells and help localize treatment, increasing its effectiveness while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.
Johnson & Johnson’s Doxil incorporates chemotherapy into 100-nm liposome particles that concentrate treatment at the disease site.
Tempo Pharmaceuticals’ nanoscale delivery system releases two drugs sequentially. The first traps the particle inside the tumor, the second attacks the tumor from within.
Avidimer Therapeutics’ nanoparticles are coated with multi-branched dendrimers; other functional molecules, such as folic acid for targeting tumors and the cell-killing cytotoxin MTX, can be attached.
Kereos Inc.’s nanoparticles deliver MRI imaging agents to a cancer site, helping detect much smaller cancers–around one to two millimeters.