Spherics Inc.
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Spherics' intellectual property, which emanates from Brown University, centers on two separate drug delivery platforms. A bioadhesive platform allows drugs to adhere to mucosal surfaces, to increase residence time and consequent drug absorption. A second technology permits the nano-encapsulation of drugs in microspheres in a wide range of sizes, under gentle process conditions that don't harm biomolecules.
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Brown University Research Foundation
Brown has a particular leaning towards creating biotech spin-offs, perhaps because of the infrastructure that cell therapy company Cytotherapeutics Inc. created in Providence, the locale of Brown's main campus. Seed stage funding from the Slater Center for Biotechnology, which funds Rhode Island biomedical start-ups, has also helped many Brown spin-offs get off the ground.
Drug Delivery Start-Ups
As an industry segment, drug delivery was virtually created by two companies--Alza Corp. and Elan Corp. PLC. These companies have since evolved into drug companies, abandoning a significant part of the field to second-generation arrivistes. Such companies that have survived the funding drought for small-cap companies have benefited, Inhale Therapeutics, for example, has a number of partnerships for its pulmonary delivery technology. Alkermes, probably the leading drug-delivery pure play, now has its first approved product. What is somewhat surprising about the industry is how little it has consolidated, particularly when one considers that no single drug delivery technology is applicable to a majority of drug delivery problems.
Wound Solutions Ltd.
Wound Solutions Ltd. looks to the paradigm of patient self-care in diabetes to address the gaps in chronic wound care, where the feedback provided by blood glucose monitoring encourages changes in behavior. A small device that is placed under a compression bandage helps patients with venous leg ulcers comply with the steps they should be taking to support wound healing, in the process, collecting data that helps clinicians make informed therapy decisions.