Envis Centre, Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt. of India

Printed Date: Friday, March 29, 2024

Latest News

Archive

SCTIMST bags patent for drug delivery skin patch (Source: The Hindu 14-01-2020)

                  Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) and the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi have won a joint U.S. patent for developing a drug delivery skin patch, for the sustained delivery of a potential chemotherapeutic molecule in and around cancer tissues, an official statement issued by SCTIMST said.

 

               Curcumin is a molecule purified from turmeric with proven anti-cancer properties. However, curcumin is not well suited for cancer treatment in humans because it is not water soluble, not bioavailable and degrades very quickly in the system.

 

                SCTIMST and ICMR have now won a joint patent for developing a drug delivery patch of wafer-thin consistency, combining curcumin with human plasma proteins, albumin and fibrinogen. When applied to the body tissues, the curcumin present in the wafer is released into tissue fluids. The human albumin present in the fibrin clot binds to albumin receptors on cancer cells thus permitting entry of curcumin into cancer cell. Simultaneously the fibrin clot is removed by body’s natural clot break down mechanism without causing any adverse effects

 

              After cancer surgery, the curcumin-fibrin wafer can be locally applied to the surgical site so that any remaining cancer-causing cells can be targetted. Apart from drug delivery, the fibrin wafer can promote blood clotting at the surgical site too, the statement said.

 

              SCTIMST is now getting ready to identify an industry partner for transfer of technology for further validation and regulatory clearances. The patent application for the drug delivery patch is under process in Indian & U.S. patent offices. ICMR has funded both the research projects which were led by Lissy Krishnan and her team at the Biomedical Technology wing of SCTIMST, the statement said.