Area: Health and Biomedical

ABSTRACT

L-Asparaginases are used as first line drugs for paediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) treatment. Yet they are characterized by high in vivo instability, short half-life and the requirement of several administrations. A new E. coli ASNase variant called N24S which tackles these issues has been patented, thus becoming an alternative treatment to successfully address the current challenges of ALL treatment. Preclinical trials in progress. 

DESCRIPTION

The patented asparaginase N24S variant has improved characteristics in terms of increased in vivo stability, longer half-life, reduced sensitivity to specific proteases that are over-expressed by resistant leukaemia lymphoblasts, and overcomes drug activity and pharmacokinetics of classical asparaginase.

This characteristics render it an alternative treatment to reduce the number of administrations and to successfully address the current challenges of Acute Lymphatic Leukemia treatment.

The fact that the molecule carries only one point mutation compared to the natural one, maintaining the enzymatic activity unaltered and, indeed, presenting further useful aspects, represents a great advantage that drastically reduces both the time and the costs of its introduction into the clinic. Preclinical trials in progress.

ADVANTAGES

• Preserved asparaginase and glutaminase activities
• Long-term storage stability
• Improved thermal parameters
• Outstanding resistance to proteases derived from leukaemia cells

APPLICATIONS

• First line drugs for paediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia
• Treatment of patients resistant to classical asparaginase therapy
• Treatment of relapsing patients
• Potential treatment of solid tumors

INVENTORS

Claudia Scotti, Maristella Maggi

 

KEYWORDS

Lymphoblastic Leukaemia relapse, L-Asparaginase mutant, Long-term storage stability, Improved thermal parameters, Outstanding proteases resistance

PRIORITY NUMBERS

PCT/EP2016/076994, US 2019/0270978

APPLICANT

Università di Pavia (100%)

ABSTRACT

The society aging and the related chronic pathologies will become predominant in the next future, increasing the healthcare costs. Chronic wounds are often related to chronic diseases (as diabetes and cancer). Moreover surgeries, frequent in elderly population, and burns are often lesions difficult to heal. The platform proposed and patented develops nanofibrous scaffolds entirely based on polysaccharides as skin substitutes to achieve wound healing.

DESCRIPTION

The developed scaffolds are based on glycosaminoglycan (chondroitin sulfate or hyaluronic acid) associated to chitosan, pullulan in presence of citric acid and electrospun starting from an aqueous/acetic polymeric solution. The nanofibrous membranes are crosslinked by sterilized heating. The scaffolds have mechanical properties suitable for in vivo application. Moreover the scaffolds allow to support in vitro fibroblasts and endothelial cells adhesion and proliferation and demonstrated to enhance skin healing in an in vivo burn model (rats). The scaffolds can be easily loaded with antimicrobial agents (as silver) or chemotherapeutic agents (as norfloxacin). Moreover the systems can be reinforced with inorganic particles. The manufacture is based on electrospinning using a simple, one-step and solvent free process to obtain ultrafine and long fibers as a non-woven structure. Scale up activity and identification of critical quality attribute are on going.

ADVANTAGES

• Employment of non-immunogenic materials
• Solvent free preparation
• Ease of sterilization
• Storage at room temperature in dry state
• Ease of scaling up

APPLICATIONS

• Chronic non healing wounds (diabetic foot, venous leg ulcers, bed sores)
• Burns
• Surgical lesions
• Infected wounds (if loaded with antimicrobial agents)

INVENTORS

Giuseppina Sandri, Maria Cristina Bonferoni, Silvia Rossi, Carla Caramella, Franca Ferrari

KEYWORDS

Chronic wounds, Implantable medical device, Glycosaminoglycans, Chitosan, Electrospinning

PRIORITY NUMBERS

PCT/IT2017/000160

APPLICANT

Università di Pavia (100%)

ABSTRACT

Currently the diabetic patient wears a more or less sophisticated sensor that communicates his insulin level sometimes even with alarms. The patient, if aware and shrewd, then injects insulin according to the information and/or the provided alarms.

It is evident that a solution in which the sensor is directly connected the insulin pump, controlling it with an appropriate algorithm, has significant advantages for the patient’s quality of life and for his safety as well. The presented invention relates to the method of controlling insulin release in diabetic patients.

DESCRIPTION

The present technology is related to the method used by the insulin pump to manage the changes in blood glucose signaled by the wearable sensor. The patented method is particularly effective at mealtimes, when glycemic changes are particularly fast.

This result is achieved through what is the heart of the patent, that is the proprietary combination of two control methods, a standard method that correlates the quantities of food to the actions to be taken according to the indication of a diabetic doctor, and a control method that reacts only to the increase of the parameter to be controlled, blood sugar, relying on a predictive model. Using this second approach alone without a reliable predictive model of the patient’s blood glucose behavior could be dangerous, on the other hand the standard blood glucose approach is limiting for the patient.

The technology offers adaptive control that effectively mixes the two methods, relying on an increasingly personalized solution for the patient as the model for predicting the progress of blood glucose becomes more reliable.

ADVANTAGES

• Insulin release control in Type 1 diabetes patient by combining the medical experience with the accuracy and reliability of the control.
• Greater reliability.

APPLICATIONS

• Medical device
• Diabetes type 1 therapy

INVENTORS

Paola Soru, Lalo Magni, Chiara Toffanin, Giuseppe De Nicolao, Chiara Dalla Man, Claudio Cobelli.

 

KEYWORDS

Diabetes; Insulin release control;Insulin therapy 

PRIORITY NUMBERS

2012WO-IT00083

APPLICANT

Università di Pavia (80%) e Università di Padova (20%)

ABSTRACT

BIOFIBER is a new generation of advanced highly absorbent medicated dressings, which features an innovative textured fiber technology and advanced drug delivery technology for gene therapy. It is composed of a biodegradable and biocompatible membrane based on micro- and nano-fibers obtained by electrospinning, and characterized by specific texture to form a flexible, highly absorbent and conformable dressing. It is soft and comfortable for the patient and conformable to challenging body areas.. BIOFIBER has been proven to efficiently control the delivery of siRNA, to effective manage the wound exudate and to support and promote cell proliferation. In BIOFIBER, siRNA is encapsulated into nanocarrier for preserving its efficacy and limiting degradation when it is exposed to exudate in the wound bed.

DESCRIPTION

Severe burns involving face and upper body generally leads to disfigurement, scar contractures and hypertrophic scars, which can lead to severe functional impairment, psychological morbidity, and costly long-term healthcare. Current solutions are commonly based on several surgical procedures by skin grafting. The textured fiber platform (BIOFIBER) can be used for the controlled and sustained delivery of drugs in the prevention and treatment of hypertrophic scars, for effective wound exudate management and for protecting the wound against mechanical insults and bacterial infections. BIOFIBER is proposed for the local delivery of siRNA to the wound bed. The present invention pertains the pharmaceutical/medical field and, it is intended for preventing and treating hypertrophic scars in deep partial thickness burns.

ADVANTAGES

• Targeted, non invasive topical treatment;
• siRNA acts with high degree of specificity and low toxicity;
• Sustained activity for up to 3 days;
• High wet strength;
• Low adherent;
• Excellent absorbency;
• Minimal Shrinkage;
• Highly Conformable.

APPLICATIONS

• Burns hypertrophic scars;
• Surgery scars;
• Keloids or any skin imperfections;
• Any scars resulting from disease, accident, surgeries or skin conditions;
• Wound healing;
• Hospital use and burn centers.

INVENTORS

Rossella Dorati, Bice Conti, Ida Genta

 

KEYWORDS

Advanced Medicated Dressing; siRNA; Drug Delivery System; Textured Fiber Material; Topical Treatment

PRIORITY NUMBERS

EP19201160.9-1109

APPLICANT

Università di Pavia 100%

ABSTRACT

A system for the evaluation of vital or reconstituted tissues, in particular cutaneous appendages such as hair or eyelashes, comprising:

A source of electromagnetic radiation of the sample;

An image acquisition device used to receive reflected and / or dispersed radiation or fluorescence radiation emitted by the sample;

An image processing unit for classifying the tissue under examination by comparing the value of the samples according the following parameters: gloss, size, color intensity, contour.

DESCRIPTION

Illumination of the sample (both in vivo and in vitro) and acquisition of digital images. Specific parameters can be measured through a software elaboration by correlation of the different images. The present device relates to the quali-quantitative study of the surface characteristics and, indirectly, of structural pro-perties of filaments, like hair or eyelashes.

 ADVANTAGES

• Use Friendly
• Real-time data processing
• Easy to carry
• Cost convenience
• Combination of ease-of-use with quali-quantitative data assessment, both in vitro and in vivo
• Development of valid and repeatable evaluation protocols

APPLICATIONS

• Effective assessments of ingredients and cosmetic formulations, medical devices and pharmaceutical preparations for hair and eyelashes
• Applications in professional salons (customer loyalty, app development)

INVENTORS

Paola Perugini, Giorgio Musitelli

 

KEYWORDS

Image analysis, Natural/synthetic fibers, Cutaneous appendages, Superficial properties

PRIORITY NUMBERS

102019000004861

APPLICANT

Università di Pavia (100%)

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method for simulating coronary changes and / or for assessing the risk of myocardial ischemia for congenital coronary anomalies, preferably dynamic exertional ischemia. In particular, the present invention refers to a method capable of describing the variations of the coronary (abnormal and non-abnormal) at rest and / or under stress through a dynamic, patient-specific (non-static) model reaching the assessment of the risk of ischemia of the myocardium, preferably dynamic exertional ischemia, of the individual patient.

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a method for simulating coronary changes and / or for assessing the risk of myocardial ischemia, preferably dynamic exertional ischemia.

This method includes: i) in-vivo acquisition of medical images and / or clinical data of the individual patient necessary to obtain a “specific patient” model and ii) computerized (in-silico) analysis of the images and / or data obtained from the phase in-vivo. The method according to the present invention is therefore intended as a method implemented by an electronic processor, i.e. a computer-implemented method. The hybrid in-vivo / in-silico combination of the method of the present invention is capable of evaluating the risk of coronary compression and the relative lack and / or reduction of blood supply during exertion.

ADVANTAGES

• Patient-specific, personalized evaluation
• Not invasive
• Method implemented by an electronic computer
• Physical effort safety intervals

APPLICATIONS

• Diagnostic method of coronary changes
• Assessment of the risk of myocardial ischemia, preferably dynamic exertional ischemia
• Assessment of ischemic risk in coronary congenital anomalies

INVENTORS

Michele Conti, Mauro Lo Rito

KEYWORDS

coronary anomalous; computational simulation; mathematical modeling; 3D cardiovascular imaging; computational fluid dynamics; personalized coronary risk

PRIORITY NUMBERS

10202000001203

APPLICANT

Università di Pavia 50% Gruppo San Donato 50%