Starpharma accelerates dendrimer program

Starpharma ASX:SPL) is working with partners to extend its dendrimer technology to more classes of drugs, even as it gears up for phase II trials for its dendrimer-docetaxel chemotherapy program.

The company has revealed it is preparing to commence clinical trials of dendrimer-docetaxel in 2013.

Early trials of Starpharma's formulation of the chemotherapy drug docetaxel, produced using its dendrimer molecule nanotechnology platform, have already delivered some strong results.

In an preclinical trial conducted earlier this year, 60% of animals treated with Starpharma's formulation showed no evidence of tumours at 94 days. By comparison, all mice treated with conventional docetaxel, or Taxotere, showed significant tumour regrowth or recurrence.

The plasma half-life has also been shown to be 60 times longer than Taxotere, supporting the potential for the product to reduce patients' dosing frequency requirements.

Dendrimer-docetaxel also has the advantage of removing toxic excipients such as detergent, potentially mitigating some common chemotherapy side-effects.

As work towards commercialising the docetaxel formulation continues, Starpharma is also expanding its dendrimer development program to a wider range of drugs.

The company has formulated its dendrimers with more chemotherapeutic drugs including gemcitabine, paclitaxel, methotrexate and doxorubicin. Other high-priority targets include platinum anticancer drugs such as carboplatin and oxaliplatin.

But chemotherapeutics are not the only class of drug to which Starpharma plans to apply its dendrimer technology.

Starpharma CEO Dr Jackie Fairley said the company recently reviewed the chemistry of the top 200 pharmaceuticals in the world, “and found that 50% would be amenable to dendrimer conjugation.”

Dendrimer technology has so far been applied to classes of drugs including antibodies, small molecules and proteins. The company has also commenced research into expanding the platform beyond drugs and into hormones including insulin and testosterone.

Besides its dendrimer platform, Starpharma has also developed antimicrobial gel VivaGel, which is currently in phase III trials as a treatment for bacterial vaginosis.

The company has also secured deals with Ansell and Okamoto to produce a line of VivaGel-coated condoms, and expects royalties from this product to be worth around $100 million.

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) shares were trading 5.71% higher at $1.480 as of around 2pm on Wednesday.