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About

LIF, short for Leukaemia Inhibitory Factor, is a small blood-borne protein functioning to repair damaged tissues throughout the body. LIF's reparative activity is known to include repair of damaged neurons in the central nervous system's brain and spinal cord, making LIF highly attractive as a treatment for Multiple Sclerosis and also for neurodegenerative diseases that are linked to inflammation. But the challenge has always been to find a way to target delivery of the LIF to the damaged tissue in sufficient amounts. Here LIFNanoRx's ground-breaking technology means that - for the first time - LIF can be delivered in a controlled and targeted manner for therapy.

By packaging measured amounts of LIF into tiny "nano" particles, molecular engineering ensures that the particles home to sites of need using a unique particle coating of target-specific antibody. This antibody coating can be designed to pass the particles through the blood-brain-barrier before releasing their cargo of LIF. Preclinical safety data shows that the particles either bind their target or stay in the circulation, rather than become trapped in filter organs, and that they gradually dissolve ending up as carbon dioxide and water. In fact the particle material is the same as that used for soluble stitches used to close surgical operations. Like stitches, they do their job (release LIF at the target site) then disappear.

This simple, safe, breakthrough technology will unlock new treatments for many neurodegenerative diseases.We look forward to bringing LIFNano medicinal to patients following formal clinical trials and Regulatory approval.Illustration by Nicolle Rage…

This simple, safe, breakthrough technology will unlock new treatments for many neurodegenerative diseases.

We look forward to bringing LIFNano medicinal to patients following formal clinical trials and Regulatory approval.

Illustration by Nicolle Rager Fuller, NSF.

 

The LIFNanoRx product is an elegant solution to treat MS: it exploits the body's own repair pathways by precise targeting of LIF to the treatment site. Moreover, since the LIF nanoparticles can be manufactured in bulk and stored until required, global access to therapy becomes possible, in marked contrast to to the relatively expensive, globally restricted and specialised cell-based therapies currently being developed to treat MS.

LIFNanoRx promises a new generation of treatments for currently untreatable diseases using simple and clean technology.

The Company

LIFNano Therapeutics is a spin-out from the University of Cambridge, UK, progressing to a clinical stage NanoBioMedicine company specifically focused on targeted delivery of the biologic, Leukaemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF).

Following the Founder's discovery that LIF is of profound importance in immune self-tolerance in addition to the known key role of LIF in stem cells and tissue maintenance, the therapeutic potential of LIF has been harnessed by invention of a targeted delivery platform using nanotechnology in collaboration with Yale University. After extensive proof of concept that our nano-formulated LIF is safe and efficacious, LIFNano Therapeutics is now taking LIF to patients.

Until now, it has not been possible to deliver LIF (Leukaemia Inhibitory Factor, a small reparative protein) directly into the sites of inflammation and neuronal damage. LIFNanoRx, for the first time, makes such targeted delivery possible.

Until now, it has not been possible to deliver LIF (Leukaemia Inhibitory Factor, a small reparative protein) directly into the sites of inflammation and neuronal damage. LIFNanoRx, for the first time, makes such targeted delivery possible.