ALKYMOS is developing a filter to remove aluminum, a toxic contaminant, from calcium gluconate solutions used in the preparation of parenteral nutrition (intravenous feeding). With a license to technology developed at the Universities of Kentucky and Missouri, Alkymos designs, synthesizes and manufactures chelators and chelator-based devices for laboratory, industrial, animal and human applications. The effort is to commercialize an innovative solution to the aluminum toxicity problem, an invention that includes a chelating resin and a filter cartridge. In the United States, approximately 12% of all births are premature, and most premature infants require intravenous feeding with total parenteral nutrition (TPN) solutions because they do not tolerate oral feeding. Aluminum is a common contaminant in the component solutions used to prepare the TPN mixtures. While aluminum exposure may not be a problem to healthy adults, premature neonates with their poorly developed kidney function represent a population at great risk of aluminum toxicity that can lead to serious conditions such as metabolic bone disease, impaired mental development and anemia. The Food and Drug Administration recognizes this problem and has established an upper limit on the amount of aluminum that should be present in the TPN solutions; however, industry continues having difficulty meeting these standards because there is no viable technology available to effectively remove this aluminum.
