Firms will exploit Siogen’s Siosomes technology with Veeda’s product-development and trials expertise.

Malaysian-based Siogen Biotech is teaming up with India’s Veeda Clinical Research to develop a nanoparticle formulation of the anticancer drug doxorubicin. The new formulation will be based on Siogen’s Siosomes® encapsulation technology and Veeda will carry out Phase I/II trials of the drug. The firms believe Siosome encapsulation of doxorubicin will increase the drug’s efficacy by targeting delivery to the disease site and also decrease side effects by lowering the exposure of healthy tissues and cells.

“This partnership will allow us to explore the advantages of our Siosomes technology for the targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic compounds,” stated Shermal Perera, Ph.D., Siogen co-founder and managing director. “Our agreement with Veeda will capitalize on their significant clinical expertise to advance this product beyond the Phase I/II clinical trials.”

Veeda says the agreement demonstrates how CROs are having to change their strategy to maximize commercial potential. “In the past we were merely providers of trials services, now we have to bring additional value to our client relationships,” commented Maurice Cross, M.D., group medical director. “One way we can do this is by embracing innovative technologies such as that offered by Siogen and offering them to our own client base as solutions to their problems. Thus we become brokers of scientific technology and bring something quite new to the table.”

Siogen’s Siosomes are nanovesicles with two or more concentric, organosilicon layers based on the silane structure. Designed to encapsulate and present a compound of interest to target sites, Siosomes essentially provide a protective, stabilizing encapsulated environment that is even suitable for toxic or unstable drugs, the firm claims. Attributes of the silane molecule also means a range of construct types can be generated dependent on the type of molecule to be encapsulated, and sizes can range from 40 nm to 1,500 nm.

Siogen offers the Siosomes technology for licensing or partnering. The firm is also working on drug encapsulation programs in a range of fields, including cancer, viral/bacterial/fungal infections, gene therapy, and vaccines.

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