Bill Ryan/The Gazette
I believe we need to use nanomedicine to do something new, not simply repackage existing ways of treatment, says Lawrence Tamarkin, CEO of CytImmune, holding a vial of CYT-6091 at his Rockville lab.
Lawrence Tamarkin was on the brink of a discovery that could change the paradigm of cancer treatment delivery when the Great Recession forced his company to slow down. But with some key contacts and flexibility, Tamarkin says he is now ready to show the world what his technology can do.
Tamarkin, 65, is CEO and co-founder of CytImmune Sciences, a Rockville clinical stage nanomedicine company with a core focus on the discovery, development and commercialization of multifunctional, tumor-target therapies. Nanomedicine involves manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale and applying that to medical therapies.
In CytImmunes case, its leading nanomedicine candidate, CYT-6091, or Aurimune, binds a water-absorbent compound and tumor necrosis factor, a cytokine that attacks cancerous cells, to a gold nanoparticle. Gold nanoparticles have been used since the 1930s to safely treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Tamarkin said.
The technology behind binding compounds to gold nanoparticles is the subject of CytImmunes 90 patents, he said.
I believe we need to use nanomedicine to do something new, not simply repackage existing ways of treatment, Tamarkin said.
Nanomedicine can change how cancer is treated because it provides the opportunity to treat cancer sites before tumors are surgically removed, he said; more conventionally, tumors are removed and then the area is treated. And such nanomedicine treatments can reduce surgery and long hospital stays, thus reducing health care costs.
The global nanomedicine market is expected to reach $130.9 billion by 2016 and exceed $160 billion by 2018, according to market research firm Companies & Markets of London. The industry is predicting a 12.5 percent compound annual growth rate during the next four years. Nanomedicines generated $72.8 billion in sales in 2011, up from $63.8 billion in 2010.
CytImmune inititally tested Aurimmune in a preclincal study in 2006 that showed treated mice could be dosed up to four times the currently used tumor necrosis factor amount without dangerous toxicity levels and the compound remained only at the tumor site. In the past, tumor necrosis factor has been difficult to administer because it also can attack healthy cells, limiting its use to surgical injections in one region, Tamarkin said. Aurimune maintains lower toxicity levels without the use of surgery.
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Gazette.Net: At CytImmune, Lawrence Tamarkin is on a gold rush