ELP Technology for Drug Delivery
Many drugs would be better medicines if their life in the plasma could be extended or if their delivery could be targeted. PhaseBio's proprietary ELP technology enables two different drug delivery approaches. PB can add a specifically designed ELP to a protein or small molecule via recombinant methods or by chemical conjugation. The Company refers to this approach as ELPylation. An ELPylated version of the anticanver agent Doxorubicin has been shown to have a prolonged plasma half-life when compared to the parent drug: 11 hours versus 17 minutes, respectively.
The Company has a second approach to drug delivery which it refers to as InGel. This procedure leverages the unique transition properties of ELPs which can be designed to be soluble at room temperature (25C) and insoluble when injected into the body (37C). Thus, the ELP-phase transition can localize the ELP-drug conjugate to a specific site (i.e. joint, tumor) where local drug concentrations are high but with minimal systemic exposure.