SBIR Phase I: Targeted Nanoparticle Delivery Agent for Treatment of Adult Leukemia

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to explore the application of a targeted nanodelivery system for both treatment and efficacy monitoring in patients with adult leukemia. Unlike solid tumors, for which surgery, radiation, and conventional treatments are an option, leukemias are cancers of the blood, which have very poor prognosis due to the fact that they are disseminated diseases from inception. In this project, the targeted and drug-filled nanoparticle will be optimized for effective tumor killing in cell culture, followed by validation using established in-vivo methods for adult leukemia in a mouse model. It is expected that this targeted nanodelivery system will increase the therapeutic window and minimize systemic therapy related toxicity, demonstrating the superior margin of safety compared to the standard methods for treatment. The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the potential to provide a technology that is capable of delivering a wide array of drug molecules (hydrophilic and hydrophobic) or drug cocktails using multiple tissue targeting ligands. The specific focus of this project is adult acute leukemia for which there is currently no curative treatment, and the adult survival rate is only 30%. Highly robust, customizable, stable, and easy to manufacture, this particle delivery system is anticipated to make a major impact on the treatment of adult leukemia.