January 18, 2008 — Carigent Therapeutics Inc. has been awarded a one-year, $153,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant by the National Cancer Institute to advance preclinical development of a long-circulating nanoparticle therapeutic that targets the specific molecular lesions in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) patients.
Carigent’s approach is based on the company’s proprietary technology for engineering biodegradable nanoparticles with exceptionally high-density surface modifications, the company announced in a news release.
The platform enables Carigent to design customized, multifunctional nanoscale carriers with the unique combined capability of tethering multiple “functional groups” such as targeting ligands, diagnostic imaging agents, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) to the nanoparticle surface at previously unattainable densities.
It can also encapsulate single or combined therapeutic and/or diagnostic agents inside the nanoparticle for sustained, controlled release directly into targeted (i.e., diseased) tissues and cells.