Nanotechnology and simulations boosting accuracy in the battle against cancer
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Trailblazing simulations and nanotechnology projects are improving cancer treatments and preventing late stage attrition.
The EU is backing a range of projects dedicated to advancing oncology research. More than 1.5 billion euros of EU funding is being channelled into research areas like nanotechnologies, advanced materials and biotechnology.
The MODICELL Project is producing a reactive software that simulates the body’s expected response to immunotherapy drug candidates. The output informs scientists on the viability of a candidate and whether it is in fact more productive to put resources into a different candidate.
The computer scientists fine tuned the pharmacology simulations through lab experiments and close collaboration with biologists to best replicate the immune system.
Download Particle Science’s paper on Nanoparticles here
Vaccine project
The PRECIOUS project is constructing nano-vaccines made of antigens and an adjuvant to trigger desired immune responses. The size of the cancer vaccine’s nanoparticles allow the parenteral medicine to be safely injected into patients.
Work is underway to find scale up opportunities so the vaccines can be produced for large populations. The vaccine is being tested for toxicity rates in humans.
Kill Cancer project
The EU backed KillCANCER project is dedicating its nanoparticle work to improve and reduce waiting times from days to hours with photodynamic therapy (PDT) which is used to terminate cancer cells.
Nanoparticles
As mentioned in Particle Science’s whitepaper there is a wide variety of nanoparticle technologies used in drug delivery and they have had a major impact on formulating pharmaceuticals.
These nanoparticle technologies offer a number of attractive attributes for drug delivery including: improved bioavailability, delivery of high doses, protection of the drug from harsh environments, extending pharmacokinetics, targeted biodistribution of drug, sustained release of the therapeutics, and co-delivery/ combinations of pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals.
The underlying technologies behind the majority of nanoparticles include: liposomes, reverse cubic phase particles, and solid lipid particles. Ten different nanoparticle based drug products have been approved in oncology alone and many more are in pre-clinical and clinical development.
