ProLynx is to collaborate with international pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo Co to evaluate its drug delivery linker technology in the eye.
In the ProLynx half-life extension platform technology, a drug is tethered to a carrier by a self-cleaving beta-eliminative linker that is pre-programmed to release the drug at a pre-determined rate.
After injection, the drug is slowly released from the carrier depot.
The ProLynx-Daiichi Sankyo collaboration will evaluate the utility of the releasable linker technology in half-life extension of small-molecule drugs after intravitreal injection.
Daniel Santi, co-founder and President of ProLynx, said: “There are numerous opportunities for our half-life extension technology in localised delivery of drugs. Small, local compartments – such as the eye – should retain therapeutic concentrations of the released free drug for prolonged periods before the drug is distributed systemically.”
Based in San Francisco, CA, ProLynx is a privately held biotechnology company developing proprietary drug delivery systems for half-life extension of proteins, peptides and small molecules. The company is seeking to apply its technology to extend half-lives of drug candidates of pharmaceutical companies, and to improve properties of off-patent therapeutics.