Many of the most effective oral medicines for neurological diseases are toxic to the body; although these medicines are non-toxic to the brain, getting the drug into the central nervous system without causing dangerous side effects in the body is a challenge. What’s more, many patients with neurological disorders do not adhere to the prescribed dosing regimen; this is especially relevant in patients with mental illnesses like schizophrenia.
The licensed technology is a drug reformulation technique that allows these drugs to be administered directly into the fluid around the brain via an implantable pump. This technique enables significantly lower dosages (reducing side effects and toxicity), and can also help overcome patient compliance problems. The technology was developed by Daniel J. Abrams and Karen Stevens (both of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry), and Thomas Anchordoquy (Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences).
ICVrx was founded in 2009 to commercialize this technology; the company is currently focusing on treatment of “refractory epilepsy” – epilepsy that has proven difficult or impossible to control using standard drug treatments. For this group of patients (600,000 in the U.S.) driving and other essential daily activities may be impossible due to uncontrolled or poorly controlled seizures. “Although these patients may appear to their neighbors to be normal, they have a very poor quality of life and high need,” said Abrams, who is also ICVrx’s CEO. “Currently there are only two treatment options – brain surgery to remove part of the brain, or an implanted device called a Vagus Nerve Stimulator, which has risks, is irreversible, and has limited effectiveness. Only 10 percent of patients pursue either.” The company has completed preclinical work on three potential drug therapies in preparation for clinical trials, which it hopes to begin in Q1 2011.
“The ICVrx technology would address an important and unmet therapeutic need for the target patient populations, and we wish the company every success in bringing this to market,” adds Tom Smerdon, Director of Licensing and New Business Development at the CU Technology Transfer Office.
About ICVrx:
ICVrx is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company reformulating three established drugs for direct delivery to brain cerebrospinal fluid by implanted pump to treat Refractory Epilepsy (RE). RE represents a large group of patients — 600,000 in the United States — with poor quality of life and very few effective treatment options. The group is larger than all sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, and brain cancers combined.
In the last four years, ICVrx has completed the necessary ground work to start clinical trials. It has secured intellectual property from the University of Colorado, completed pre-clinical work, vetted three drugs for clinical development, and established pump, catheter and pharmaceutical suppliers. In addition, the company has built its management team and assembled and engaged world-class advisers, business and scientific, consisting of thought leaders in finance, clinical development, compartmental drug targeting, neurology, neurosurgery, and epilepsy.
About the Technology Transfer Office and the University of Colorado
The CU Technology Transfer Office (TTO) pursues, protects, packages, and licenses to business the intellectual property generated from research at CU. The TTO provides assistance to faculty, staff, and students, as well as to businesses looking to license or invest in CU technology. For more information about technology transfer at CU, visit www.cu.edu/techtransfer.
The University of Colorado is a premier teaching and research university with four campuses: the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. More than 55,000 undergraduate and graduate students are pursuing academic degrees on CU campuses. CU is ranked seventh among public institutions in federal research expenditures in engineering and science by the National Science Foundation. Academic prestige is marked by the university’s four Nobel laureates, seven MacArthur “genius” Fellows, 18 alumni astronauts and 19 Rhodes Scholars. For more information, go to www.cu.edu.
