Oct. 2, 2006 — Dendritic Nanotechnologies Inc. and the National Cancer Institute have entered into a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract valued at $850,000. The project will use Dendritic’s Priostar dendrimers to develop a new generation of targeted diagnostic and therapeutic delivery technology for the early detection and treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer. Annual U.S. expenditures for medical treatment of ovarian cancer are approximately $1.5 billion.
This marks the first time that dendrimer nanostructures will be used as both a diagnostic tool and a vehicle to deliver higher concentrations of therapeutic agents to cancerous cells. Current chemotherapy methods are often toxic to normal healthy cells and cause serious side effects as they perform their life-saving function of destroying diseased tissue. It is anticipated that dendrimers could be able to deliver therapies with precision and at a lower toxicity that minimizes damage to adjacent healthy cells.
Dendritic’s Priostar dendrimer delivery system will be combined with a magnetic resonance imaging agent to create an improved product for detecting and monitoring cancerous tissue. A second product will be developed by combining the Priostar dendrimer with approved cancer-fighting drugs to improve and deliver the therapy for ovarian epithelial cancer. Dendritic expects this project will result in the filing of an Investigational New Drug application for the diagnostic imaging technology, and a subsequent application for the therapeutic technology.