August 13, 2007 — Nanotherapeutics Inc. says it has entered into a two year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Vaccine Branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to produce HIV peptide oral vaccine nanoparticles using the company’s proprietary technology. The collaboration with NCI will employ the company’s nanoparticle delivery system, which enables oral targeted delivery of macromolecules such as peptides, to facilitate oral delivery in the GI tract to improve immune response.
James D. Talton, Ph.D., President of Nanotherapeutics and co-founder of the company, is the company’s principal investigator on the project. Dr. Talton said, “The CRADA marks a significant milestone for the company and an important step in the development of novel HIV vaccines.”
In 2005, Nanotherapeutics received funding from National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to develop an oral nanoparticle medication to treat opiate addiction. The company also received funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) research program on Medical Countermeasures against Radiological and Nuclear Threats, to improve the delivery of an injectable treatment, and from Project Bioshield.