Delivering an Anti-Cancer Payload with Nanoparticles

Insert Therapeutics has treated its first patient with its first drug candidate, called IT101, which consists of nanoparticle-encapsulated camptothecin, an anticancer agent. While camptothecin has been known as a potential chemotherapy agent for years, it has never been used in human patients previously because of solubility problems. Insert solves this problem by wrapping up the drug in a proprietary linear cyclodextrin polymer. Cyclodextrin is essentially a form of starch and so there are few safety concerns with this type of delivery system. The cyclodextrin system was invented by Mark Davis, a CalTech chemistry professor. Animal studies have been promising, with complete remission seen in a type of lung cancer.

Although camptothecin itself is insoluble, analogues of the compound are already used in chemotherapy, with a combined worldwide market of about $1 billion. It remains to be seen whether Insert’s IT101 is an improvement over the drugs that are already marketed.

Insert is majority owned by Arrowhead Research [NASDAQ-ARWR], which is a component of the Edwards Real Nanotech Index (ERNI).

Insert hopes to mimic the success of Abraxis Bioscience (another ERNI component), whose FDA-approved product Abraxane consists of the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel delivered using an albumin-based nanoparticle. Before Abraxane, delivery of paclitaxel required a very noxious solvent and patients had to be maintained on steroids in order to tolerate the drug.

Speaking of Abraxis, it is the subject of a favorable analysis by Mark Phillips, The 10Q Detective. On the downside though, he accuses CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong of having a “Martha Stewart” complex and complains about his $825,000 salary and the company’s provision of security for him and his family. But here is the money quote: “Nonetheless, the Common Stock price of Abraxis is such a screaming BUY—we do not mind looking askance at this piggish display.”

Phillips points out that Goldman Sachs calcualated an enterprise value of $62.53 per share for Abraxis. The stock was up $1.30 yesterday, to all of $21.59.

ERNI Down Again

The Edwards Real Nanotech Index (ERNI) was down again last week in line with the rest of the market, with fears of WWIII getting underway in the Middle East. Despite the neocon’s wetdreams, we think this is an unlikely outcome. And ERNI rallied strongly with the rest of the market yesterday, as the Dow advanced over 200 points on Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s calming testimony before the Senate.

ERNI component NVE Corp. announced its earnings today. Product sales were up 71% over the prior year to $3.05 million. Income per share was 19 cents a share versus 9 cents in the year earlier period. The company has retired all its debt and has increased its cans and investments by almost $900,000 in the quarter. Hard to argue with a quarter like that. The stock opened up over a dollar higher as the market seemed to like the numbers.

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More Reviews of Nanotech Pioneers

More kind words about my book, The Nanotech Pioneers: Where are they taking us?:

"A vivid and realistic look at nanotechnology, written by an insider and experienced science writer, providing a view of how this new field will affect people in the near future. The author looks at the social, political and economic changes involved."
Enviromental Science and Polution Research

"Edwards writes with such passion that it is hard not to be infected with the nanotech bug. His words fill the reader with optimism that nanotechnology really is the next big thing."
The Lancet

"...the author offers a plain and non-technical guide to the field of nanotechnology. This is an easy-to-understand introduction to nanotechnology. Hence, the book is recommendable to all experimental natural scientists in academic organizations as well as in industry. It is a brief, simple, almost math-free introduction, easy to understand and in no way boring."
Engineering in Life Sciences

Luna Added to ERNI

Last week was the debut of Luna Innovations in the Edwards Real Nanotech Index (ERNI). The dollar value of Luna stock added was at the average of the current components and the divisor (fudge factor) was adjusted to make the addition neutral to the value of the index.

ERNI was down slightly last week. There was nothing in the news background to move nanotech stocks one way or the other. Earnings season is coming. NVE looks to be the first up, with a conference call scheduled for July 20. Incidentally, NVE seems to be on a tear this week in a down market; its stock price is up about $2.00 from last Friday’s close. I have seen no news from the company to account for the rise.

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Introducing Luna Innovations

As of July 1st, 2006, Luna Innovations is the newest component of the Edwards Real Nanotech Index (ERNI). The company only recently went public; on June 2, the company offered 3.5 million shares at $6.00 each, which is about where it is currently trading.

Luna has four divisions: Contract Research, Luna Advanced Systems, and Luna Technologies, and Luna NanoWorks.

Contract Research currently supplies most of the company’s income. Their specialties are things like coatings that repel water, corrosion, heat, electromagnetic interference and nasty micro-organisms; polymer photovoltaic devices; fiber optics; and medical diagnostic and monitoring systems.

Luna Advanced Systems is working on medical and industrials sensing devices. The company recently released an ultrasound device to detect emboli in the blood stream. Emboli can be anything with the potential to block flow, but particularly bubbles and clots. Luna’s Emboli Detector and Quantifier system can detect microemboli at rates as high as 1000 per second. The system uses tracking systems originally developed for missile defense. The instrument is targeted toward cardiothoracic surgeons, anesthesiologists and perfusionists. Luna Advanced Systems also markets techy items to the federal government.

Luna Technologies makes fiber optic test and measurement systems—for instance the Optical Vector Analyzer and the Optical Backscatter Reflectometer (you wanted to know, didn’t you?). Basically this is test equipment for optical telecommunications networks.

Luna nanoWorks develops and manufactures proprietary fullerene products. It is located in Danville, VA, once a center of the tobacco industry. The city fathers, in order to fight rising unemployment that has been twice the state’s average, have been promoting the areas’ charms to the nanotech industry, with a lot of help from the state government. Luna has taken over a former tobacco warehouse on the banks of the Dan River. The company gutted the inside, leaving only beams and the foot-thick brick walls. In this unlikely space, they are building what they hope to be a nanotech powerhouse, capable of producing ton quantities of nanomaterials. An old railroad spur backs up to the warehouse/factory, awaiting the day when this promise is fulfilled. A cobblestone street in front of the building completes the picture of a nineteenth century setting for this high tech upstart.

The president of Luna NanoWorks, Stephen Wilson, is a former chemistry professor from New York State University, and is also the scientific founder of another nanotech firm, C-Sixty. Wilson was one of the first to see the possibilities inherent in buckyballs—cornering on behalf of C-Sixty much of the then available intellectual property surrounding medical applications of that curious molecule.

In addition to commercial production carbon nanotubes and buckyballs, the company hopes to commercialize what it calls trimetaspheres. These are a larger version of the buckyball, with 80 carbons caging up to three metal or rare earth atoms, such as scandium, lanthanum or yttrium, which are covalently to nitrogen. The nitrogen complex spins freely within the larger cage of carbons. Trimetaspheres were invented by accident when an air leak contaminated a reactor being used to make buckyballs. Rather than merely discard the preparation and start over, Harry Dorn, a professor at Virginia Tech University decided to characterize the anomalous chemical species that were thus formed. Science was once again served by the unplanned experiment and a curious mind.

According to Wilson, trimetaspheres have potential uses as contrast agents for medical magnetic resonance imagining, as light emitting diodes, and potentially for molecular electronics and computing.

Altair Nanotechnologies Gets Battery Order

Altair Nano’s battery program got a lift today with its first ever order--$750,000 worth of “nano-lithium ion batteries” from Phoenix Motorcars. Phoenix is perhaps not an automotive powerhouse. However, it does plan on building several thousand freeway-ready zero emissions electric cars over the next few years.

Altair’s principal advance in battery technology is the introduction of a nanostructured lithium titanate spinel oxide electrode that does away with the graphite materials previously used for the negative electrode in lithium ion batteries. Partial breakdown of graphite causes some safety and charging issues in lithium batteries, especially at low termperatures. Altair says its current lithium ion batteries are capable of recharging in 10 minutes to 90% of capacity. The nanostructuring of the electrode apparently increases the surface area available to lithium ions. Altair says its batteries work fine at -30 degrees C., something ordinary lithium ion batteries just don’t do. On the other hand, Altair’s batteries so far have a lower energy density than conventional lithium ion batteries, certainly a consideration for electric vehicles.

The market for rechargeable batteries is about $6 billion worldwide, with lithium ion batteries taking half of it. So Altair looks to be in a good space if their batteries work out.


ERNI Back in the Black

The Edwards Real Nanotech Index edged back into the black last week, 1.6% above its initial price in February. Nanophase, NVE Corp., Cambridge Display, and Harris & Harris showed good gains. Next week, we will introduce a new ERNI component, Luna Innovations [NASDAQ—LUNA], which held an IPO recently.

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