SAN FRANCISCO, May 13, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RxGen and ProLynx LLC, presented primate study data showing that polyethylene glycols (PEGs) are appropriate supports to extend ocular pharmacokinetics of conjugated drugs at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2014 annual meeting in Orlando, FL.
The study, performed in healthy adult African green monkeys, first evaluated the pharmacokinetics of intravitreally delivered fluorescein-labeled 20- to 80-kDa linear PEGs, and two, three and four arm 40 kDa PEGs. The fluorescein-PEG conjugates exhibited prolonged retention with half-lives of about five days that was not highly dependent on PEG size or shape, and had no apparent adverse effects. With the identification of PEGs as appropriate carrier molecules for ocular delivery ProLynx self-cleaving linkers were then used to attach fluorescent drug surrogates to demonstrate slow, controlled intravitreal release of the drug surrogate from the PEG support over time.
RxGen’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Lawrence, MD, PhD, stated, “These results show that binding drugs by ProLynx’s self-cleaving linkers to biodegradable macromolecules present a promising strategy for controlled, sustained ocular drug delivery.” Daniel Santi, Co-Founder and President of ProLynx added, “These results show that PEGs behave as good supports to maintain therapeutic concentrations of an intravitreal drug for several weeks. Future work will aim to further increase the duration of drug exposure in the vitreous.”
About ProLynx LLC
ProLynx LLC is a privately held biotechnology company developing proprietary drug delivery systems (DDS) for half-life extension of proteins, peptides and small molecules. The company is seeking to apply its DDS to extend half-lives of drugs and drug candidates of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. ProLynx is also seeking to out-license the long lasting drug conjugates in its pre-clinical product portfolio. The company is located in San Francisco, CA. Further information about the company and its capabilities may be found online at http://www.prolynxllc.com.
About RxGen
RxGen is a specialty translational research company focused on the development and application of more clinically relevant models of human disease, physiology, and drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics designed to accelerate the evaluation, selection, and development of candidate therapeutics and drug delivery technologies. RxGen has helped academic organizations, venture-backed startups, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies around the world drive significant value from their preclinical pipelines through the deployment of our validated screening models.
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