drug delivery Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Click chemistry breakthroughs drive Shasqi and J&J cancer alliance

In June 2023, the click chemistry-focused startup Shasqi revealed a research pact with Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation. More recently, the company announced that it had expanded the research alliance, furthering work on its intratumorally injected biopolymer, known as SQL70. The collaboration will also apply its clinically validated Click Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer (CAPAC) technology to the development of new cancer therapies through preclinical testing.

Inside the click chemistry Shasqi J&J alliance

Shasqi is working with an interventional oncology unit at J&J, which is aiming to take a holistic approach to cancer care that spans therapeutics and therapeutic approaches to meet unmet needs. “That completely matches with our view of the world,” said Dr. José M. Mejía Oneto, the founder and CEO of Shasqi.

The partnership with J&J will bolster research on Shasqi’s intratumorally injected biopolymer SQL70 but also support the …

Nobel-connected startup Shasqi deepens J&J partnership on CAPAC platform

San Francisco-based oncology startup, Shasqi, announced an expansion of its research collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation. The partnership centers on Shasqi‘s CAPAC platform, which is an abbreviation for Click-Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer. The platform separates tumor-targeting from the actual drug payload with the aim of maximizing potency while minimizing toxic side effects.

Shasqi’s CAPAC platform taps click chemistry for tumor targeting

CAPAC makes use of a two-part system: a tumor-targeting agent and a cancer therapeutic. When the protodrug locates the tumor’s targeting agent, click chemistry activates it. The technique joins two discrete molecular components much like a seat belt buckle. More precisely, the system makes use of a chemical reaction to precisely activate the cancer drug at the tumor location.

The origins of Shasqi trace back to the research of its founder, Dr. José M. Mejía Oneto, who desc…

6 drug delivery innovations you need to know

From wearable insulin delivery devices to drug-eluting implants and everything in between, drug delivery innovation never stops.

Vaccines, life-saving therapeutics, vision-correcting drugs and more are being developed and marketed for delivery with all kinds of technologies.

More than a year ago, we compiled a list of eight drug delivery innovations you need to know. With some updates on some of those technologies, plus introductions to others, here are some more impressive developments you should keep an eye on:

1. Needle-free delivery

Vaccines have become a major talking point over the past couple of years amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a number of companies are working on ways to deliver them, as well as other forms of medication, through different avenues.

A major speed bump in vaccine hesitancy can be fear of needles, so the introduction of needle-free drug delivery could make big waves in the space.

Two companies pushing forward with …

UC Riverside researchers tout piezoelectric polymer for drug delivery

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, are touting a polymer-based membrane as a potential drug delivery platform.

The researchers developed the membrane made from threads of a polymer commonly used in vascular sutures, according to the university’s website. The membrane can be loaded with therapeutic drugs and implanted in the body before its electric potential is activated by mechanical forces and the drugs are slowly released. The researchers published information on the system in ACS Applied Bio Materials.

Get the full story at our sister site, Drug Delivery Business News.

How Bionaut Labs aims to tackle brain tumors with microrobots

The roboticist Michael Shpigelmacher was one of the founders of PrimeSense, a robotic 3-D vision technology company Apple acquired in 2013.

PrimeSense created technology empowering the Microsoft Xbox Kinect and the iPhone’s Face ID feature, allowing users to use facial recognition to unlock their phones.

Now Shpigelmacher has set his sights on drug-delivery with Bionaut Labs, a startup aiming to use tiny robots for precision drug dosing. Bionaut recently won $20 million in venture capital funding.

Get the full story from our sister site, Drug Delivery Business.