NaDeNo’s nanomedicine delivery system inspires hope for peritoneal cancer

NaDeNo, a new nanomedicines company and spin-off of the Norwegian science institute SINTEF, has revealed promising results for its cure for cancers which have spread to the peritoneal cavity.

Peritoneal cancer is difficult to treat and has a poor survival rate due to the level of blood which passes through and because it is commonly diagnosed in the late stage. NaDeNo’s technology makes it possible to embed large volumes of active cancer drugs in nanoparticle carriers, which are then injected into the peritoneal cavity, allowing the drug to be evenly distributed to all tumours.

Ýrr Mørch, chief technology officer (CTO) and co-founder at NaDeNo stated: “We’re now getting ready to start pre-clinical trials. This phase will take some years, during which we will carry out a number of animal studies using standardised methods. We have to test the product thoroughly and also demonstrate that the drug is safe and can be manufactured with appropriate medical purity… The human body is composed mostly of water. Drugs that are poorly soluble in water are thus difficult to transport to the correct location in the body in sufficient doses to enable them to work for long enough to have their full effect without causing serious side effects… Nanoparticles are now being manufactured at laboratory scale at SINTEF, but we have to show that we can produce these at an industrial scale. This must be carried out by specialist manufacturers, but to do this we have to go overseas. A lot of research remains to be completed before the technology can be applied on cancer patients. We are still at an early phase.”

James Spargo