Micell Technologies presents data on novel drug-eluting stents

Apr 19 2007

Micell Technologies has announced that the Company will be presenting data on use of its supercritical fluid (SCF) surface modification technology for drug-eluting stents at the upcoming Society for Biomaterials 2007 Annual Meeting, April 19-21 2007 in Chicago, Illinois.

The abstracts describe use of Micell and PNNL's, 2006 R&D 100 Award winning e-RESS technology to create drug-eluting stents containing crystalline drugs, such as sirolimus, and multiple drug combinations such as paclitaxel and heparin.

e-RESS (e for electrostatic, RESS for Rapid Expansion from Supercritical Solution) is a new technology for creating novel drug-eluting materials for cardiovascular stents and other medical devices. The technology was jointly developed by Micell and scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and has been licensed exclusively to Micell.

This unique technology has the potential to provide improvements to conventional solvent based systems by maintaining control of drug morphology, targeting drug placement within the coating and customizing elution rates of single or multiple drugs. In addition, the SCF method avoids solvents and high temperatures so it can be used with new therapeutic classes, such as proteins or genes, in addition to existing therapeutic agents.

While drug-eluting stents have demonstrated dramatic improvements in early restenosis rates compared to bare metal stents, concerns over late stent thrombosis have been the subject of much recent discussion in the medical community and the media. These concerns have been driven largely by a number of issues including inherently thrombogenic polymers, residual drugs and patient compliance issues related to the necessary oral anti-platelet therapy such as Plavix and aspirin, required of patients who receive drug-eluting stents.

"Our technology provides an opportunity for optimal design of therapeutic profiles using both anti-restenosis and anti-thrombotic compounds to address both short and long-term safety of drug-eluting stents," said James B. McClain, founder and Chief Technology Officer of Micell Technologies. "This approach which includes multi-drug formulations in biodegradable polymers has the potential to provide improved benefits for both patients and clinicians."

Micell Technologies' novel approach to surface modification of medical devices provides an opportunity to deliver the next generation of drug-eluting stents by maintaining morphology of therapeutic compounds and providing manufacturing processes that apply discrete and independent therapies within a single, multi-therapy coating.

About Micell

Micell Technologies is a privately-held, early-stage biomedical company dedicated to applying its unique surface and polymer modification technologies for improved patient benefits and accelerated product development for medical device and drug delivery applications. The Company's patented processes and methods for medical device surface modification using supercritical fluids are focused on improvements to current polymer based drug-eluting technologies. To learn more, please visit our website at www.micell.com