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| Drug Delivery Platforms
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Drug delivery platforms are central to Apollo’s focus on transforming patients’
treatment with better, more convenient drugs for diseases where there are unmet
needs. |
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Apollo has two main drug delivery systems for protein + antibody based drugs:
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oral delivery system, Oradel™, which protects
drugs from being broken down in the stomach and ensures they are absorbed from
the gut into the bloodstream.
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transdermal delivery system, TransD™
which delivers drugs through the skin without patches, mechanical devices, skin
irritation or staining of skin and clothes.
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Both have the potential to replace needles for biopharmaceuticals,
which are therapeutics using proteins and antibodies. Such biopharmaceuticals
include insulin, which is used to treat diabetes, and TNF blockers that can
relieve the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.
Needle-free biopharmaceuticals are cheaper, more convenient, and virtually
painless. Two recent market developments have created an unmet need for
needle-free biopharmaceuticals:
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Strong customer preference for non-invasive drug delivery forms, including
oral, inhalation and transdermal.
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Development and growth of drugs based on
proteins and antibodies. These are often regarded as better treatments
than the chemicals of traditional pharmaceuticals.
Despite progress in drug delivery development, current protein and
antibody-based drugs still require injections. Factors such as the considerably
larger molecules sizes and water solubility/insolubility of these
biopharmaceuticals have limited the success of oral and transdermal delivery
systems. Apollo’s two drug delivery systems,
Oradel™ and TransD™, each
overcome the delivery challenges for protein-based drugs.
Apollo’s two delivery platforms can be combined with its natural hcx™ human
proteins to meet unmet market opportunities involving diseases such as
rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, and psoriasis. Such
therapeutic candidates include recombinant erythropoietin (EPO), human growth
hormone (rhGH) and TNF blockers.
Apollo’s patented delivery mechanisms can also be used for drugs already
approved for use in humans, such as insulin for diabetes, thereby offering a
quicker and less expensive path to market compared to new drugs. The
application of the technology will also be suitable for existing off-patent
drugs.
A third drug delivery system, aiming to transport drugs across the blood
brain-barrier, is in the advanced laboratory and pre-clinical research stage.
Apollo’s drug delivery platforms have relevance in multiple market segments,
including both therapeutic and over-the-counter products. |
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