Mar. 13, 2007 — Azaya Therapeutics, Inc., a company developing technology for targeted chemotherapy drugs, has been granted a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its PSL nanotechnology platform. The PSL technology promises consistent loading, sizing, and stabilizing of active drugs into targeted nanoparticles.

The company’s first application of its PSL technology is a formulation of one of the world’s top-selling chemotherapy drugs. Oncology drugs are a $60+ billion annual worldwide market, and with some coming off patent over the next several years, PSL technology has the potential to extend their life for years with formulations that make them more effective than their original versions, said Azaya president and CEO Michael T. Dwyer.

“PSL nanotechnology is a breakthrough for the formulation and targeting of effective, yet insoluble drugs and has the potential for very broad application to a wide variety of formulations,” said Dwyer. “We have been able to demonstrate that PSL formulation of a standard-of-care, yet toxic, chemotherapeutic allows for dosing at higher levels, increased drug concentration and circulation time, and statistically significant tumor growth inhibition compared to the original formulation. We’ve clearly proven the principle of what PSL nanoparticles are capable of doing.”

Drugs for diseases other than cancer may offer similar opportunities, Dwyer said.

Azaya’s one-step, proprietary manufacturing process allows for the consistent production of uniform nanoparticles. This size allows for selective tumor accumulation due to the tumor’s leaky vasculature.