Product Information

DOXORUBICIN

Brain tumors belong to the most aggressive cancers in humans, with 60.000 new cases only in the 7 major markets per year. Especially glioblastomas exhibit a high mortality because in most cases they are associated with the development of recidives after chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Anti-cancer drugs normally do not cross the blood brain barrier. The insufficient response to anti-cancer drugs is caused by inaccessibility of the tumor tissue due to the blood brain barrier. Our objective was to achieve a sufficient supply of Doxorubicin in the brain via a nanoparticle-mediated drug transport.

NanoDel Technologies GmbH has developed a patent-protected nanoparticle/Doxorubicin formulation for the treatment of brain tumors. The use of the nanoparticles/Doxorubicin formulation for the treatment of brain tumors leads to a significant reduction of the serious side-effects (reduced cardiotoxicity, reduced testicular toxicity) of Doxorubicin as well as to a sufficient bioavailability of the cancer drug. To test efficacy, rats with intracranially transplanted glioblastomas cells were treated with Doxorubicin-loaded nanoparticles. These animals were sacrificed and a beneficial effect was documented by histological examination of the brain. The animals treated intravenously with Doxorubicin-loaded nanoparticles and coated with polysorbate 80 showed a significant extension of survival time compared to the untreated control. Histological examination of the tumors of treated animals showed a strong reduction of tumor growth, central necrosis and locations of apoptosis. Histological examination of other organs showed no pathological changes. Doxorubicin-nanoparticles are currently under pre-clinical development.