Starpharma in trans-Tasman dendrimer alliance

Starpharma has formed an alliance with New Zealand Crown Research Institute company Industrial Research Limited (IRL) to develop carbohydrate functionalised dendrimers, in a five-year collaboration supported to the tune of $AUD5.1 million by the New Zealand government.

The collaboration will focus on the development of dendrimers sporting carbohydrate functional groups allowing specific targeting of the structure to cells in the immune system and other tissues.

According to Starpharma CEO Dr John Raff, the collaboration has stemmed from contract research performed at IRL to characterise Starpharma's dendrimers, and IRL's research in targeting liposomes using carbohydrates. Along with IRL, participants in the collaboration include the School of Pharmacy at the University of Otago and the Cawthron Institute.

"We want to transfer the targeting technology from liposomes to the more stable dendrimer structure," said Raff. "It's a pretty specialised area, we're happy to be collaborating with them."

Starpharma will be bringing its dendrimer and product development expertise to the collaboration, while IRL will focus on the design, synthesis and commercial manufacture of carbohydrates, he said. The goal is to build a glycodendrimer technology platform applicable to many fields, although initially they will focus on immune system and vaccine applications.

"The initial goal is to create dendrimers with carbohydrates on the surface to target cells in the immune system," said Raff. "But also, we're more generally interested in the area of developing more targeted drug delivery systems."

He said that the support of the New Zealand government for the commercialisation of the technology laid a foundation for a significant trans-Tasman alliance, and enhanced Starpharma's strategy for partnering with developers of complementary technologies.

"We couldn't afford to do this kind of work ourselves, it opens a whole new area for us. We're delighted with it," said Raff.