Date: Jun 06, 2012 Source: press release (
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Houston, TX, June 6, 2012 - Ensysce Biosciences Inc. announced today they have accomplished a $1 million dollar raise, part of which completes the Qua lifying Financial Transaction milestone for the State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF). Funding of up to $1.5 million had previously been approved from the State ETF for the development of single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT ) therapeutics for the delivery of siRNA.
siRNA is one of the most intriguing and promising approaches to cancer ther apy, but adequate cellular delivery has been an issue, The funds from the ETF have aided the preclinical development of this ground breaking delivery technology and have allowed Ensysce to provide high paying jobs in Houston.
Ensysce will use this additional funding towards th e completion of studies required to file an Investigational New Drug applicati on with the FDA and bring SWCNT delivery of siRNA rapidly into clinical development.
Carbon nanotubes provide a means to deliver unmodifi ed, large active molecula r agents through natural barriers within the body and specifica lly into cancer cells. "The siR NA delivery into tumors by SWCNT and biological activity have been conclusively demons trated in our animal stud ies and over the last year we have finalized our formulation of our drug product to take into human studies ." said Dr. Kirkpatrick, CEO of Ensysce. "In the next six months we intend to move in to the safety studies required by the FDA to enter clinical trials."
Ensysce is located in the Biotec hnology Commercialization Center in the Texas Medical Center, a site that aids its research collaborat ions with Rice University. "The re search by Ensysce has dramatically demonstrated the utility of this approach to siR NA delivery," said Dr. R. Bruce Weisman, Professor of Chemistry at Rice University. "Ensysce's succes s in using carbon nanotubes to deliver these macromolecules and provide biological activity in tumors is a major accomplishment."
About Ensysce Biosciences:
Ensysce Biosciences, a Houston, TX based nanotec hnology company, is focused on the use of carbon nanotubes for therapeutics in the area of cancer treatment. The company has an extensive carbon nanotube-related, worldwide intellectual property portf olio, including IP developed at Rice University by the late Nobel Prize winner Dr. Rick Smalley.
