From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Fri Dec 12 2003 - 07:35:29 PST
----- Original Message -----
From: cunews_at_cornell.edu
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 5:38 PM
To: CUNEWS-LIFE_SCIENCE-L_at_cornell.edu; CUNEWS-HEALTH-L_at_cornell.edu; CUNEWS-SCIENCE-L_at_cornell.edu
Subject: Cornell News: drug-coated biomaterials
Cornell scientist's drug-coated biomaterials to prevent artery
reblockage win $1.75 million in licensing payments
FOR RELEASE: Dec. 11, 2003
Contact: Susan S. Lang
Office: 607-255-3613
E-mail: SSL4_at_cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University Professor C.C. Chu was browsing
through Business Week in 1997 when he read about a cardiologist using
radioactivity to reduce artery reblockage following angioplasty and
stent surgery, a condition called restenosis. Chu called the
cardiologist to say he had a better approach.
Now, five years, four U.S. patents and $1.75 million license payments
later, Chu has been proven right.
He and researchers in his lab in the Department of Textiles and
Apparel in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell have developed a
group of biodegradable biomaterials that can deliver nitric oxide
(NO) derivatives and other biologically active compounds.
One is an amino acid- (or protein-) based, very elastic biomaterial
that can coat stents to deliver NO derivatives to prevent the
restenosis of an artery. Elasticity is critical since stents tend to
contract and expand significantly. Another class of the patented and
licensed biomaterials is star-shaped biodegradable polymers that also
can be formulated into jellylike biodegradable materials called
hydrogels to improve the delivery in the body of a wide range of
bioactive compounds via three-dimensional porous network structures.
"Biodegradable hydrogels also have potential for wound-care products
and as substrates for tissue engineering to replace aged or diseased
tissues or organs. They may even work for environmentally friendly
diapers or for agricultural devices because of their very high water
retention capability," says Chu, a fiber and biomedical materials
scientist whose inventions have reaped a total of nine patents
through the Cornell Research Foundation.
Four of these patents were licensed to MediVas, a privately held San
Diego-based company that developed new techniques for coating stents
with Chu's biomaterials. The company recently sold the exclusive
worldwide license to these new biomaterials to Guidant Corp. for an
initial payment of $35 million, of which Cornell received $1.75
million. One-fourth of the payment to Cornell went to the College of
Human Ecology, the college's first patent-derived revenue. Additional
payments are expected if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
approves the use of Chu's biomaterials.Among the many advantages of
Chu's amino acid-based biodegradable biomaterials are their
biocompatibility. They also are low in cost, are easily biodegraded
and are versatile in biological and material properties so that their
design can be film- and fiber-forming, or highly elastic. This allows
them to be particularly promising carriers of a wide range of drugs
and other bioactive substances. They also are designed to use
enzymes, which allows Chu and others to create "self-degradable"
polymers with programmable rates and duration. This makes them ideal
for bioabsorbable surgical implants and controlled devices for drug
delivery. In addition, when used for wound care, they provide
nutritional value to local wound sites for facilitating faster
healing.
Of the Chu group's new biomaterials, the amino acid-based polymers
are the closest to becoming a clinical reality. Chu notes,
"Restenosis occurs in as high as 30 to 45 percent of patients after
balloon angioplasty procedures and placements of stents to open
clogged arteries. The U.S. market size for stents is about $5 billion
a year."
To prevent restenosis, current treatments include stents coated with
immunosuppressant drugs, cancer drugs or radioactive compounds.
"Using NO derivatives allows us to use a biochemical that is
naturally produced by the body for the cardiovascular, immune,
reproductive and nervous systems," Chu points out. "Research shows
that our new NO derivative-coupled biodegradable biomaterials have
the same biological function as the NO produced by the body. That
means that our approach may have great potential to open a new means
to treat those diseases caused by the lack of NO."
Researchers believe NO and NO derivatives can prevent restenosis by
preventing the proliferation of smooth muscle cells, which typically
block blood vessels after stent implantation. "As our biologically
active biomaterials biodegrade, they release the NO derivative," Chu
says.
Among Chu's collaborators on various aspects of the research is Ramaz
Katsarava of the Republic of Georgia. Katsarava worked with Chu
through the Civilian Research and Development Foundation, which helps
former Soviet Union weapons scientists to redirect their skills
toward peaceful solutions. Other collaborators include Jack Freed,
professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell; M.D. Lang, a
professor at East China University of Science and Technology, who did
postdoctoral research in Chu's lab; and Keun-Ho Lee, Chu's former
doctoral student.
The research has been supported largely by MediVas and in part by the
College of Human Ecology at Cornell.
Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide
additional information on this news release. Some might not be part
of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over
their content or availability.
o C.C. Chu:
<http://www.human.cornell.edu/faculty/facultybio.cfm?netid=cc62&facs=1>
-30-
The web version of this release may be found at
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Dec03/Chu.patents.ssl.html
--
Cornell University News Service
Surge 3
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
607-255-4206
cunews_at_cornell.edu
http://www.news.cornell.edu
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