Drug Delivery Technologies
Lauriad Drug Delivery Platform
Transdrug Nanotechnology Drug Delivery Platform
Lauriad® Drug Delivery technology:
improving delivery to the site of the disease
The first approach adopted by the Company is that of development
of technologies, which improve the delivery of medicines,
sought after by the pharmaceutical industry to improve the
efficacy of medication and extend product life.
The Lauriad® technology permits tablets to adhere to
a mucosal membrane, particularly in the mouth, and thus allows
delivery through early and extended release of the therapeutic
agents onto the site of the disease. This release is adapted
to diseases sited in the mucous membranes and is made easier
by a single daily dose taking.
BioAlliance Pharma thus developed miconazole Lauriad®
(Loramyc®) for the treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis,
which will be launched in France in 2007. This product is
subject to the mutual recognition procedure in Europe, with
France as the reference Member State, and is also the subject
of a pivotal phase III trial in the United States.
The Company has also completed a Phase I clinical study (pharmacokinetic
and pharmacodynamic study) on acyclovir Lauriad®, for
the treatment of labial herpes. At the beginning of 2007,
the Company obtained the initial authorizations from the relevant
authorities in Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom
and the Czech Republic, enabling it to commence Phase III
trials for this product.
A third product, fentanyl Lauriad® for treatment of severe
resistant cancer pain, is under consideration as the next
candidate for development using this platform.
Miconazole Lauriad
Acyclovir Lauriad
Transdrug® Nanotechnology
Drug Delivery Technology: improving delivery by intracellular
targeting
BioAlliance Pharma has developed a patented nanoparticle
technology using polyisohexylcyanoacrylate (PIHCA), a patented
polymer, to deliver a certain number of medications in the
form of nanoparticles. In the human body, these nanoparticles
carry cancer-fighting medications to the nucleus of the cancer
cell, where they can perform their cytotoxic actions. The
mechanism by which this polymer operates and by which it makes
it possible to bypass the transmembrane resistance mechanisms
is innovative: the charged part of the polymer combines with
the cancer-fighting drug to form a pair of ions that mask
the anticancer drug, so that transmembrane multi-drug resistance
pumps do not recognise it and therefore do not eject it from
the cell. This mechanism allows the anticancer drug to reach
its target in the cell without affecting the functioning of
the pumps. This intracellular targeting is the source of the
name of this Transdrug® technology.
The Company’s first product under development using
the Transdrug® nanoparticle technology transforms the
pharmacological profile of doxorubicin. Doxorubicin is a potent
chemotherapy agent, which may be prescribed for many cancers
and which is widely used in cancer treatment in the first
lines of poly-chemotherapy (particularly for the treatment
of breast and haematological cancers). The lead product in
the BioAlliance nanoparticle program, doxorubicin Transdrug®,
is in a Phase II/III study in the EU for treatment of primary
liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), via the intra-arterial
route of administration.
This product has received 'Orphan Medicinal Product' designation
from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Other potential developments in Transdrug® technology:
BioAlliance Pharma has carried out trials in vivo using Transdrug®
technology to demonstrate the improved absorption of certain
products which are not readily soluble when taken orally.
Applications on other nanoparticle products derived from Transdrug®
technology will only be developed clinically if the clinical
results of the first doxorubicin Transdrug® application
are confirmed.
Doxorubicin Transdrug®
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