Spheritech technology offerings
Looking for investment and collaborations
Spheritech – technology areas:
Spheritech has proprietary platform technologies for the preparation of various polymers, biopolymers and microparticles. These include poly-epsilon-lysine based polymers cross-linked with fatty acids. Poly-epsilon-lysine is a short chain peptide manufactured on a multi-tonne scale as a food preservative and the fatty acids used are those already present in our body. The resultant polymers are antimicrobial, biodegradable and biocompatible material. This platform technology has multiple applications in the healthcare (as wound dressings and tissue repair scaffolds – Trabeculate®, Proliferate® and Proliferex®) and personal care space. The patents for these polymers are now granted worldwide.
The company also holds granted patents in the manufacture of antimicrobial, biocompatible and biodegradable microparticles. These microparticles, termed SpheriSomes® are mono dispersed and self-assemble in water. Once cross-linked these particles have applications in healthcare, personal care and homecare areas.
Corneal bandage:
Antimicrobial corneal bandage based on Spheritech’s polymer technology is currently subject to a clinical trial to generate safety and efficacy data to enable CE marking. This trial is expected to complete in November 2020 with the University of Liverpool taking a lead on the commercialisation process. This application is available for licensing to appropriate partners on the basis of a global license in return for a fee and royalty payment structure for applications in human or animal health.
Several peer reviewed papers have been published for this application.
Wound dressing:
Antimicrobial wound dressing, Proliferex® based on Spheritech’s proprietary biopolymer. Biocompatibility studies have been completed in-vivo in animals and the technology is ready to go into a clinical trial with around £50k required to fund the study and complete CE marking. This application of the polymer technology will be licensed on a global basis to an appropriate partner with a fee and royalty financial arrangement once these studies have generated the required data.
Regenerative medicine:
Spheritech’s polymer technology is also proven in-vivo for regenerative medicine applications where the novel tissue repair scaffold has been demonstrated for cartilage regeneration (sheep model) and spinal cord repair (rats studies). These studies have shown excellent results and will be published in due course. This application for the technology is available for collaboration for further development with the ultimate aim of licensing to a partner. Investment is also sought to enable further development.
Blood substitutes based upon haemoglobin based oxygen carriers (HBOCs):
Spheritech’s technology for manufacture of monodispersed microspheres, SpheriSomes® has been applies to the encapsulation of haemoglobin to create a form of artificial blood. This has applications in healthcare as a perfusion fluid for maintenance of transplant organs and ultimately for applications in trauma and blood transfusion. This novel HBOC termed SpheriSome Hb effectively produces artificial red blood cells which are easily manufactured on a multi-tonne scale. The company has already demonstrated that this HBOC can maintain porcine kidneys, efficiently oxygenating the tissue and removing carbon dioxide whilst maintaining urinary function. This application of the technology needs further development and data generation with collaborations and funding required.
