Nanotech Puts Cancer In The Cross Hairs

March 6, 2008 | Source: Forbes.com

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.