[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Naivec, a peptide fusion bio company, announced on the 27th that its self-developed blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeable delivery vehicle 'NIPEP-TPP-BBB Shuttle (BBB Shuttle)' showed a 9% permeability rate at the administered dose, and that external validation and mechanism elucidation have been completed.
The BBB permeability of drug delivery material platforms being developed by most pharmaceutical companies was only 3-4%. Naivec verified a drug permeability rate 2-3 times higher than existing ones and clearly elucidated the related mechanism.
The experimental results applying the BBB Shuttle to mice induced with brain tumors are even more impressive. Not only did the brain tumors drastically decrease, but after crossing the BBB, the permeable substance was concentrated at a high concentration only in the brain tumor site without affecting other parts of the brain. The company explained that this is because NIPEP-TPP, designed with a targeting function to accurately deliver drug efficacy to the desired site, was applied.
Naivec succeeded in expanding the application range of the platform technology 'NIPEP-TPP', which selectively delivers drugs to tissues and cells, to develop a BBB-permeable peptide delivery vehicle (NIPEP-TPP-BBB shuttle). As a result of conducting mechanism elucidation research with overseas pharmaceutical companies, they confirmed both the mechanism and a high BBB permeability rate of 9%.
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a biological barrier that selectively allows necessary nutrients from the blood to pass through and restricts harmful substances to maintain the function of brain nerve cells and regulate the microenvironment within brain tissue. Small molecules can relatively easily pass through the BBB, but large molecules such as antibodies, proteins, and genes that need to act inside the brain, as well as low molecular weight drugs used for neurological diseases, have difficulty crossing the BBB.
The BBB acts as the first line of defense blocking external substances, but since therapeutic agents cannot pass through, it also acts as a kind of obstacle. Therefore, a drug delivery platform capable of crossing the BBB is necessary to treat brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and brain tumors.
A Naivec official said, "For treating brain diseases, not only BBB permeability but also a high level of drug delivery rate is key," adding, "While most developed drug delivery platforms have a permeability rate of about 3-4% crossing the blood-brain barrier, Naivec confirmed a high permeability rate of 9%."
He continued, "Naivec structurally designed peptides targeting receptors highly expressed in brain vascular endothelial cells and peptides with cell-penetrating functions to develop the BBB shuttle, and as a result, confirmed that the distribution concentration in normal mouse brain tissue was more than three times higher compared to when general cell-penetrating peptides were applied."
Furthermore, he emphasized, "The BBB shuttle demonstrated excellent BBB permeability not only for antibodies but also for gene siRNA and proteins, and due to its higher permeability compared to other companies, it is receiving great interest and attention from global pharmaceutical companies."
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