VALITOR, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: NIAMS

Description

Project Summary As of more than million Americans were living with an implanted artificial joint While these devices improve the lives of many over of these individuals will eventually require a costly and painful revision surgery due to aseptic loosening of the device from the bone This type of device failure typically stems from the immune response to microparticles that are generated due to wear between the articular surfaces Thus a comprehensive approach to increasing the functional life span of joint replacement devices must include a strategy for controlling the bodyandapos s response to these particles Tumor necrosis factor TNF has emerged as a compelling target for controlling the foreign body response to microparticles However the half life of anti TNF therapeutics acting from within the joint is short and thus this strategy is limited by the need for frequent e g weekly drug administration for effective treatment To enable longer acting anti TNF drug activity Valitor has developed a patented platform technology for generating soluble clusters of therapeutic antibodies attached to single chain biopolymers In contrast to other methods of protein polymer conjugation e g PEGylation our method of conjugation generates substantially larger conjugates with enhanced drug potency In fact our anti TNF antibody conjugates mvAntiTNF are even larger than the tissue meshwork that lines the inside of the joint and therefore we anticipate mvAntiTNF will be retained within the joint at least times longer than an unmodified antibody after intra articular injection During Phase I we will verify that increasing the molecular size of mvAntiTNF conjugates will provide longer acting inhibition of the immune responses to microparticles in the joint space and prevent implant loosening over time Our proposed study will provide proof of concept that anti TNF conjugates can generate sustained treatment effects in the joint We expect this mvAntiTNF therapy will follow a well defined route to FDA market approval and commercialization which we will continue during the next phase of this project Relevance Approximately million Americans are living with an implanted artificial joint More than over of these individuals will eventually require a costly and painful revision surgery due to aseptic loosening of the device from the bone Valitor has developed a novel drug that is designed for sustained inhibition of the mechanisms that lead to device loosening over time Our proposed study will provide an initial proof of concept for our drug and we will continue the development of this product in subsequent phases of our project