The Solution

Optimizing Delivery for CNS Therapeutics

NeOnc Technologies is committed to finding improved ways of providing better delivery and therefore better results for pharma-therapeutics used to treat difficult to treat CNS-based diseases. As shown in The Problem section of the website, one of the chief hurdles from impacting cure is the inability of therapeutics to be able to reach the brain due to the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB), and then to be able to reach a targeted site where the drug is most needed without creating unneeded side-effects to the rest of the brain.

With their exclusive wrapper technology, NeOnc Technologies has developed a three-point method for addressing this hurdle to advancing treatment for CNS disease.

What is Perillyl Alcohol?

At the core of NeOnc’s novel wrapper technology is a proprietary synthesis of Perillyl Alcohol (POH), a naturally occurring compound that has shown efficacy in treating patients with recurrent gliomas. POH is a monocyclic terpene that is derived from the essential oils of a variety of plants including peppermint, sage, oranges, and lemongrass. The molecular structure of POH consists of one hydroxide molecule (an oxygen and a hydrogen atom bonded together), combined with a hydrocarbon molecule ( a carbon atom bonded with three hydrogen atoms) and a methylene molecule (a carbon atom bonded with two hydrogen atoms). Traditionally POH has been used as a common ingredient in cleaning products, cosmetics, and fragrance in toiletries. It is permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a food additive, primarily for the purpose of a flavoring agent. Recently, the medical community has focused on growing research on POH for its ability to act as a regulator for many of the neurologic pathways associated with cancer tumor cell growth. This includes the apoptosis pathway, Ras pathway, growth factors channels, AP-1 activity, cancer cell differentiation, cycle, and growth as well as other pathways where it acts as an antitumor inhibitor.

Target One: Intranasal Delivery of Hybrid Therapeutics

Internasal Delivery of Pharma-Therapeutic

So as a cancer therapeutic, POH holds great promise. In addition, it has two other properties that NeOnc Technologies is working to exploit. The first is its small molecule size allows it to be delivered internasal through the trigeminal pathway and to effectively bypass the BBB. This ability allows POH to be used for local targeted delivery to the brain thereby eliminating the issues associated with oral and intravenous delivery methods. Secondly, is POH’s solvent properties allow it to encase, or “wrap” other molecule structures to create hybrid combinatorial therapeutics that can then be delivered intranasally thereby increasing their efficacy and ability to cure.

This ability to create more effective hybrid pharma-therapeutics that can utilize the advantages of internasal delivery is the first target for NeOnc Technologies efforts.

Target Two: Permeable BBB Delivery

The second target is delivery to the brain by permeating the BBB. As POH is a small, lipophilic (fat-soluble) molecule, it is able to permeate the BBB which primarily targets restriction of entry for large molecule substances (pathogens, viruses) and water-soluble compounds. By conjugating a pharma-therapeutic with NeOnc’s POH formula, the therapeutic which has known capability for treating a CNS issue but which on its own could not pass through the BBB can now be delivered more effectively through the BBB for local targeted treatment regimes. This method would allow for a conjugated POH pharma-therapeutic to be delivered via traditional oral or intravenous methods but with a higher ability for the drug to be able to reach and permeate the BBB to effect a cure.

Target Three: Targeted Arterial Delivery

The third method of delivery that NeOnc is focusing on is an ability to deliver its POH conjugated pharma-therapeutic directly to a tumor by identifying the arterial pathway which feeds the tumor and then feeding a catheter through the supplying artery directly to the tumor site. Then because of the lipophilic properties of the conjugated drug, the therapeutic could be injected into the tumor site where it would be absorbed through the BBB into the tumor. Essentially, this is equivalent to punching a temporary hole through the BBB to allow for extremely targeted delivery of a chemotherapeutic to a cancerous tumor after which the BBB would naturally seal the penetration without any damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

The Hope

Combined these three areas of delivery hold the key to providing a substantive shift in the ability of physicians to treat CNS disease on a level previously unobtainable. By providing a pathway for reliable delivery of pharma-therapeutics to the brain without the associated problems and side effects of current delivery methodologies, NeOnc Technologies is setting a new standard of care for CNS-based disease treatment. Both the target market and the potential benefit are enormous.