Bioinformatics Institute of India: Pharma Department

Indian researchers develops nano version of a cancer drug

For the first time, a nano version of carboplatin, used in chemotherapy treatment has been developed, wherein unlike the existing molecule, a higher concentration of the drug will attack the cancerous cells and increase the chances of survival of a patient.

A group of five Indian researchers and doctors from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai; LV Prasad Eye Institute, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad; and Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai; has researched and developed a nano version of an existing cancer drug, carboplatin. This will reach the cancerous cells at a faster pace, reduce toxicity levels of the chemotherapy drug and further increase chances of survival of the patient. Carboplatin is a chemotherapy drug used against some forms of cancer, especially against cancers affecting brain and central nervous system. If this nano drug is proved successful in human trials, this would be the first nano version of a carboplatin drug in the world.

Dr Debraj Shome, Facial Cancer Expert from Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, India, and who heads the five-member research team, said, “We realized that in many cases, large molecule carboplatin drugs could not penetrate and reach the cells in the eyes and the brain. We then thought why not come out with a nano version of this same drug which would be an answer to many shortcomings. Due to the reduced size of the drug it would not be difficult for the molecules to penetrate through the pores of the outer portion of the eye and directly target the cancerous cells.” This was proven through an experiment conducted on rats, one eye of the rat was injected with normal size of carboplatin while the other eye was treated with the nano size of the drug. Chances of toxicity were also shown to be very minimal. “Toxicity levels in the normal carboplatin drug are not an issue as the drug is traditionally been reasonably safe to neural tissue,” added Dr Shome.

The nano version of the drug enters cells upto as much as 75 percent more than the normal generic version of the drug. Moreover, the common problem faced by cancer patients undergoing a chemotherapy treatment was that, an overdose of the existing drug had high chances of killing the healthy cells along with the cancerous ones. As this nano drug will enter more efficiently, lesser amounts of the drug can be used and collateral damage of normal human tissue could be avoided.

This nano drug will mainly target children below the age of two years who are suffering from retinoblastoma (eye cancer) and children and young adults suffering from other round cell tumors. This could be a blessing in disguise for this target group, around 50 percent of whom die not just because of the disease but because of chemotherapy overdose itself. For human trials, the first step was to test 150-200 patients with peri-ocular injections of the normal drug, after which the next step was the animal experiment to develop the nano drug. Subsequently, the step was to test the nano drug on humans. Till date around 5-7 patients with retinoblastoma have already been treated with this nano drug.

While experiments in rats were completed last year, human trials of the nano drug has commenced a few months earlier. This trial has being accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed US-based ophthalmology research journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

 

Nanobiotechnology, has been creating waves in the industry. At present a number of Indian pharma and biotech players are working on applications of nanomedicine in the treatment of a number diseases, cancer being the top most in their list. Biocon and Abraxis BioScience recently launched Abraxane the nanotechnology-based anticancer drug in India for the treatment of breast cancer. Dabur Pharma, a leading manufacturer of anti-cancer drugs, had also launched nanoxel the novel drug delivery system for the widely used anti-cancer drug Paclitaxel. The nanoscale drug delivery system is claimed to be India's first indigenously developed nanotechnology-based chemotherapy agent. Pune-based Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) is also working on nanotech-based products though they were reluctant to reveal details.

The research team has decided not to hand over the patent to any pharmaceutical company as of now and prefers to work on an independent basis especially in the basic research and development phase. They have filed a patent and typically they would spin off into a different company.