UK based Prosonix has signed a collaborative research agreement with Imperial College London to accelerate the development of engineered multi-component particles (MCPs) as respiratory medicines.
As part of the collaboration, Prosonix will work closely with Omar Usmani, an internationally recognised expert in respiratory diseases and inhaled drug delivery at the college's National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI).
The aim of the collaboration is to develop a deeper understanding on the ways MCPs can be translated into new respiratory medicines with significant clinical benefits compared to existing ones in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.
Results from the collaboration aimed at accelerating the development of Prosonix' PSX2000 MCP Series of novel combination medicines.
The MCP development is intended to advance one or more MCP candidates into formal preclinical/proof of concept studies in 2013.
As part of the collaboration, MCPs will be investigated in in vitro and in vivo models of the lung, and will also be compared for key performance criteria, including synergistic effects in reducing inflammation and improving bronchodilation resulting from co-localisation of active drug components.
The agreement will see the evaluation of excipient-free, drug-only MCPs engineered by Prosonix.
Prosonix CEO David Hipkiss said, "Following the recent second close of our £17.1M financing, we believe we are very well placed now to drive the development of our unique MCPs into the clinic."
Omar Usmani said co-localisation of active components in respiratory drug combinations in the lung may offer the potential for an enhanced clinical effect and therapeutic efficacy that is currently not fully achieved with current combinations.
"With better treatment of respiratory diseases requiring improved combinations for these reasons, we are extremely interested in Prosonix' particle engineering approach and multi-component particles to determine whether they can demonstrate clinical synergy and thus provide a novel and effective means of delivering respiratory combinations," Usmani added.
