Blood Brain Barrier,

the Final Frontier

The entry of biological therapeutics into the market in the last 20 years has revolutionized disease treatment, but the brain continues to be left behind.

Neurological disorders contribute to 6.3% of the global burden of disease and the prevalence of central nervous system (CNS) disorders is anticipated to increase by 12% by 2030, due to the aging population. These diseases are often associated with chronic disability, resulting in significant suffering for both the patient and their caregivers.
However, despite the quantum leap over the last decade in drug development for CNS disorders, the greatest challenge in the development of effective treatment options for brain diseases has remained the effective delivery of a wide variety of therapeutics across the restrictive blood-brain barrier (BBB).
Nearly 1 in 6 People are Suffering from a Neurological Condition

Genetic
Diseases

> 1,000 genetic disorders
affecting the brain

Neurodegenerative Diseases

6M* patients with Alzheimer’s
& Parkinson's Disease
(*In 2020, in the US alone)

Brain
Cancers

~200K primary brain tumors ~170,000 secondary brain tumors

The Blood Brain Barrier – The Brain’s ‘Gate Keeper’

While over the last 20 years Biologics, such as antibodies and proteins, have revolutionized disease treatment, they have left brain diseases behind, as ~98% of biologics cannot access the brain due to the restrictive Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB).

The BBB is extremely selective and restrictive in nature, composed of a single layer of endothelial cells that are joined by tight junctions and end-feet astrocytes, which cover the surface area of the cerebrovascular capillaries, separating circulating blood from extracellular fluid of the central nervous system (CNS).
Functioning primarily as a protective barrier for the brain, the BBB prevents various elements, including hormones, neurotransmitters, and neurotoxins, from entering the bloodstream into the CNS. However, transport of relatively large molecules across the BBB can be achieved through specific and selective transporters located on the BBB surface, which allow penetration of essential substances such as glucose, peptides and proteins into the brain.
Therefore, to enable a wide variety of therapeutics to enter brain, there is a need for a uniquely composed ‘shuttle’ to transport existing biologics into the brain. That is where Nanocarry’s AxS platform comes in – using gold nanoparticles of a specific size as a shuttle to link a whole range of antibodies in a manner optimized for delivery, biodistribution and clearance – creating infinite possibilities for multi-target therapeutics to access the brain.
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