A Japanese firm announced this week that it has developed a biodegradable polymer based drug delivery system that could significantly improve// the efficacy of chemotherapy drugs and reduce drug development costs.

Nitto Denko Technical Corporation (NDT), the US subsidiary of Nitto Denko Corporation, says its novel drug delivery technology platform uses a biodegradable and biocompatible polymer material which can be loaded with therapeutic agents.

According to the company, the polymeric carrier can greatly enhance the solubility of a drug and efficiently deliver the therapeutic agents to target tissues, whilst also reducing side effects commonly experienced with existing drugs.

The firm says that this new drug delivery technology platform could reopen potential therapeutic avenues using drugs whose development had been terminated due to high toxicity or poor solubility, as well as offering significant cost savings.

”It is well known that the costs associated with the development of new drugs are extremely high, while in contrast, the chance of successful progress through clinical trials is relatively low,” explains NDT.

”If linked to promising compounds that have not successfully completed clinical trials, the [polymer-based carrier] may offer the potential to increase efficacy and safety as well as offering opportunities for successful new drugs to reach the market.”

”In this way, it is expected that it may contribute to significant reductions in the time and cost associated with bringing new drug candidates through product development.”

With the average cost of developing a marketed pharmaceutical product coming in at around $802m (€611m), but with the potential to rocket up to $2bn for some drug candidates, any means of reducing development costs could be an attractive consideration for pharmaceutical companies.

NDT's polymer-based carrier has the potential to be ap
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