Company
Sustained Nano Systems, LLC (SNS) is a privately held drug delivery technology company whose research facility is located on the campus of Stony Brook University as part of the Center for Biotechnology.
The company utilizes its expertise in small particle behavior to produce short and long term sustained drug delivery with applications for a variety of fields, including chronic disease states, where repetitive dosing is required.
The SNS program is the result of a comprehensive research effort that has demonstrated its ability to administer drugs via short or long term micro-dosing. This allows for the continuous release of drugs to targeted tissues from weeks to years, as prescribed. Its resorbable drug-loaded nano and microparticles offer both enhanced drug release kinetics and high dose capacity. In-vitro and in-vivo studies demonstrate that the SNS system can be used across a wide spectrum of drugs, utilizing multiple delivery modalities and a sustained drug release as prescribed. Such parameters assure that full dosing compliance is achieved without the inherent difficulties of patient self-medication.
The Company has two divisions:
SNS Applied Delivery: Established to partner its DensomereTM technologies with companies wishing to adapt SNS technology for their own drugs.
SNS Ophthalmology: Developing SNS drug candidates for FDA approval. This includes drugs to treat the major causes of blindness, of which SNS is preparing to initiate Phase II clinical trials.
PRODUCTS UNDER DEVELOPMENT
POST- CATARACT SURGERY: DEX-SA
Cataract surgery is the most common operation performed in the United States, with approximately four million annual procedures (nearly 30 million worldwide). Anti-inflammatory eye drops are typically self-administered by the patient for one month postoperatively. DEX-SA, designed to last approximately one month and treat postoperative inflammation and pain, would deliver dexamethasone to the subconjunctival space, eliminating the need for patient dosing of medication after surgery.
GLAUCOMA: LAT-LA
Glaucoma is the most common cause of irreversible blindness in the world, often requiring a lifetime of eye drop treatment to reduce intraocular pressure. LAT-LA is a single extraocular injectable administration of a six-month release prostaglandin analog for glaucoma treatment, replacing the currently prescribed multiple daily eye drops.
RETINAL DISEASE: RET-LA
Age-related macular degeneration and macular edema are major causes of vision loss in people over 50. In these cases, damage occurs to the macula, a small spot in the center of the retina responsible for seeing objects directly ahead of us. As a result, patients with AMD have difficulty performing various activities. Current treatment consists of monthly or bimonthly injections of monoclonal antibodies designed to eliminate angiogenesis. Animal studies have demonstrated that a single administration of SNS RET-LA is capable of preventing such blood vessel growth for over a year in a standard rabbit model of corneal angiogenesis.
Protein Therapeutics:
SNS technology, initially designed for small molecules, is now being adapted to allow delivery of protein therapeutics. This includes such important macromolecules as anti-angiogenic antibodies, oligonucleotides, trans-gene expression products and growth factors, all of which have immense therapeutic value. An example is in delivering monoclonal antibodies (anti-vegf) drugs to the back of the eye to treat serious visual impairment, including age-related macular degeneration and macular edema, leading causes of blindness affecting over eight million people in the United States.