A Case Western Reserve University spinoff that’s developing controlled-release, drug-delivering polymer technologies is hoping to land some federal grants.
Affinity Therapeutics’ ability to win funding through the federal government’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program will go a long way in determining the company’s future direction.
The company was founded by Case researcher Julius Korley and biomedical engineering associate professor Horst von Recum. It derives its name from what the founders call its “affinity-based” technology, which is to say that the technology uses chemical interactions to regulate the rate at which a drug is released from an implant in a patient’s body.
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Affinity’s founders envision the company’s technology being used to coat a wide range of medical devices with various types of pharmaceuticals, though the company is also developing stand-alone delivery systems.
Thus far, the most promising application of Affinity’s technology looks to be for coating hernia mesh with antibiotics. While mesh implants can increase the likelihood of successful hernia repair, they’re also prone to infection. The infections sometimes show within weeks of hernia surgery, but in some cases don’t develop for years.
Affinity’s founders believe the company’s polymer-based technology could deliver antibiotics to help combat those infections. The key value of Affinity’s technology is its ability to control the rate and duration at which a drug is released in a patient’s body, the founders said.
For example, existing controlled-release technology often lets out a large amount of a drug in the first few days after a device is implanted, whereas Affinity’s drug-delivery method has shown the ability to hold a drug for up to six months and to prevent infection in animal models, von Recum said.
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In addition to hernia mesh, wound healing could be a promising application for Affinity’s drug-delivery method, according to Korley and von Recum. “Our strategy is to find the applications that require the least-stringent rules from the FDA,” von Recum said.
But before Affinity can get anywhere near a U.S. Food and Drug Administration review, it’ll first need to obtain financing to lease lab space and fund further research. The company has applied for five SBIR grants, and “we’ll be excited if one or two show up,” Korley said.
In addition to grants, a licensing deal with a pharmaceutical or medical device company would represent another means of funding the development of Affinity’s technology. Affinity has already engaged in such talks, the founders said.
Affinity’s research has thus far been financed mainly through Case’s translational research program, which is funded by the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.
