Aphios Corporation is a specialty pharmaceutical company developing enhanced natural therapeutics for health maintenance and manufacturing potent bioactive molecules. Longtime BSIR involved, areas of focus include nanotechnology delivery of siRNA and therapeutic proteins as well as hydrophobic anticancer drugs and other small molecules and the pathogenic safety of biologics. Using the company's library of diverse marine microorganisms isolated from normal to extreme environments in US territorial waters, Aphios is developing antiviral and antimicrobial therapeutics. Aphios' discovery portfolio includes several anti-HIV, anti-Influenza and anti-Smallpox 'hits,' and a marine antimicrobial compound that is effective against multi-drug resistant (MDR) human pathogens, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE). The company has developed proprietary products in the following areas: 1) low temperature viral inactivation for blood plasma, animal serum and recombinant therapeutics; 2) natural product manufacturing for therapeutics such as Taxol and other anticancer agents; 3) liposome formulation of chemotherapeutic drugs and recombinant proteins; and 4) selective microbial cell disruption for the recovery of intracellular proteins and periplasmic enzymes. These products are all technologically linked by a scientific approach that involves the application of liquid-liquid technologies to improve end-product quality while reducing manufacturing costs. The firm previously spun off two companies - Amyxa Pharmaceuticals - specifically to work on discovering and developing anti-influenza treatments derived from ocean-dwelling micro-organisms and plants and, in 2013, Amylon, to develop the preclinical-stage APH1104 (bryostatin 1) for mild-to-moderate Alzheimers disease and potentially other conditions.
