New therapies with nanomedicine

The company Rodos Biotarget has been producing nanomedicine preparations since 2009 and specializes primarily in nanotransporters. The surface of their nanoparticles is equipped with specially produced molecules. These are selected to dock onto receptors of certain cell types in the human body. Active ingredients are packaged in the nanoparticles, which can thus be brought to the place where they are to develop their healing effects.

In medicine, this concept is referred to as targeted drug transport. And this is advantageous for several reasons: On the one hand, the dose of the drug can be reduced, as it is only applied where it needs to work. On the other hand, the active ingredient can supply cells that cannot be reached by conventional means because the drug would be degraded beforehand. Finally, the risk of possible side effects decreases because uninvolved cells are not treated at all.

To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved more than forty nanomedicine preparations. Nevertheless, nanomedicine preparations have so far been used primarily as niche applications in certain tumor therapies. “We are in the process of transferring this concept to other disease-relevant cells with a spectrum of different nanotransporters,” explains Dr. Robert Gieseler-von der Crone, Scientific Director of the Rodos Biotarget. There are several examples: metabolic diseases, liver cirrhosis, fatty liver or liver cancer could be treated by the targeted transport of active ingredients into the specialized liver cells. Muscle cells are also potential targets for new therapies, for example against muscle weakness or muscle wasting.

The company has achieved its greatest success so far with transporters that reach cells of the human immune system. Since the immune system is the natural ally of the physician, biotechnologists hope that this transporter version in particular will lead to decisive therapeutic advances and is planning the first clinical trials.

In addition to its location in Hanover, the company is now moving into a second headquarters in the Potsdam Science Park, where a therapeutic procedure for an entire group of inflammatory autoimmune diseases is to be developed. To do this, Rodos Biotarget will use a nanotransporter that reaches the “generals of the immune system” with the so-called antigen-presenting cells. These immunological decision-makers act incorrectly in such diseases and instruct other immune cells to attack the body’s own tissue. Autoimmune diseases are actually even more common than cancers, are always chronic in nature and can sometimes even be fatal.

More recently, pharmaceutical companies have developed several high-priced drugs with new active ingredients that offer better treatment options to many patients with immense suffering. However, they are not suitable for all patients or are not well tolerated. With its therapy concept, the Rodos Biotarget starts the disease cascade much earlier than other treatments and hopes for success.

The company is in good hands in the Potsdam Science Park, Managing Director Dr. Marcus Furch is convinced. This is where he not only finds well-trained junior staff for his interdisciplinary team, but also possible cooperation partners in the form of researchers from the Fraunhofer and Max Planck Institutes.

Text: Heike Kampe/PNN

more articles in the PNN special supplement on the Potsdam Science Park from 21.09.2019