Nanocopoeia Awarded Funding to Commercialize Innovative Stent Coating Process

Nanocopoeia, Inc. has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant totaling $500,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to scale up, validate, and commercialize its next-generation process technology for coating medical stents. In addition to this Phase II research funding grant the company is eligible to apply for Phase II b follow-on funding for an additional $500,000 to match R&D investment made by a commercial partner.

NSF awards SBIR grants under its Manufacturing Innovation Initiative to fund development stages of groundbreaking technologies like the Nanocopoeia ElectroNanospray(TM) process and to enable commercialization. This proprietary process enables the next generation of proprietary, multi- functional stent coatings based on sophisticated, engineered depositions and coating designs that provide staged and targeted delivery of therapeutics from the stent surface.

Under the SBIR Phase II program, which is designed to prepare for commercialization with private-sector partners, Nanocopoeia will produce commercial scale manufacturing hardware for applying nanoparticle-based drug- eluting coatings to coronary stents. The equipment will be capable of operating in a regulated environment. The demonstrated flexibility of the system for transforming a wide range of proprietary coating materials into nanocomposite coatings is a key feature of the system.

The market for drug-eluting stents is one of the fastest growing segments in the medical device industry. Significant improvement in clinical outcomes associated with the use of these products is driving the growth. First- generation products combining therapeutic drugs with the implantable stents reached the market in 2004 and are projected to generate world-wide annual sales in excess of $5 billion.

According to Nanocopoeia's CEO, Robert A. Hoerr, MD, PhD, "This grant funding will greatly accelerate commercial development of Nanocopoeia's next generation, engineered nanocomposite stent coating process. The availability of follow-on funding to match a partner's investment provides a great incentive."

"We are delighted to be a multiple-SBIR winner," Hoerr continues. "We understand that this is a highly competitive review process carried out by expert scientific panels, and that our selection for multiple awards clearly validates the promise of our novel approach to coating medical stents."

http://www.nanocopoeia.com/

Posted 22nd September 2006