Imagine anti-cancer therapies but with fewer side effects and improved effectiveness. This is the dream that Starpharma is turning into a reality: not just for cancer treatments but for drugs to treat a range of diseases. It all stems from Starpharma's patented dendrimer nanoparticle drug delivery technology, which we refer to as ‘Dendrimer Enhanced Products’ or DEP® for short.

Starpharma's DEP® drug delivery platform aims to enhance the effectiveness of existing and novel therapies, including chemotherapeutic agents, radiotheranostics, and Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs), while reducing drug-related toxicities through controlled and specified drug delivery.

DEP® has already been widely applied in oncology but can also be applied to other classes of drugs, such as anti-infectives and antivirals.

DEP® allows for more controlled and precise drug delivery, which provides therapeutic and commercial opportunities. DEP® allows for the creation of new intellectual property and extends the patent life of existing drugs. DEP® is versatile and can be applied to a wide range of therapeutic modalities, including small molecules, peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids such as mRNA. Because of this versatility, DEP® is often referred to as a platform drug delivery technology.

Starpharma's DEP® technology involves using dendrimers, which are highly branched, tree-like molecules, to enhance the delivery of therapeutic agents such as drugs. Dendrimers have a well-defined structure with multiple functional groups that can be modified for various purposes, including drug delivery.

Starpharma uses its dendrimer technology to create proprietary, patented DEP® products by attaching therapeutic compounds to dendrimers. These DEP® dendrimers act as a versatile scaffold that can be tailored to carry a wide range of drug or radioactive payloads, control their activity, and target specific locations in the body, such as a tumour or a particular cell type.

By attaching therapeutic payloads (drugs or radioactive isotopes) to Starpharma’s dendrimers with functional linkers or chelators, it is possible to customise and control the payload’s activity and minimise toxicity, including regulating where, when, and how quickly a payload is released in the body. This versatility allows very precise design and control of payload delivery, ensuring it is released in the right location, at the right time, and at the right pace.

The specific mechanisms by which DEP® enhances drug delivery can vary based on the drug and the application. It could involve improved drug solubility, prolonged circulation time in the bloodstream, targeted delivery to specific cells or tissues, or a combination of all these features.

Starpharma has developed a pipeline of novel DEP® oncology products. Its clinical-stage assets, DEP® cabazitaxel, DEP® docetaxel, and DEP® irinotecan, are dendrimer versions of widely used chemotherapeutic drugs that have demonstrated improvements in efficacy and tolerability in Phase 2 clinical trials. Additionally, Starpharma has a preclinical pipeline of DEP® Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) and DEP® radiotheranostic products.

Starpharma has also established DEP® platform partnerships with leading global pharmaceutical companies.