Ensysce Biosciences Inc. Receives Emerging Technology Funds from the State of Texas
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ensysce Biosciences Inc. announced today they have received funding from the State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund. Funding of up to $1.5 million has been approved for the development of single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) therapeutics for the delivery of siRNA.
The funds will aid the preclinical development of this promising technology and allow Ensysce to provide high paying jobs that will attract scientists and others to Houston to work on this ground breaking technology. The aim of Ensysce is to use this funding to move SWCNT delivery of siRNA rapidly into clinical development.
Carbon nanotubes provide a means to deliver unmodified, large active molecular agents through natural barriers within the body and specifically into cancer cells. "The siRNA delivery into tumors by SWCNT and biological activity has now been demonstrated in our animal studies," said Dr. Kirkpatrick, CEO of Ensysce. "We are now optimizing the pharmaceutical preparations to demonstrate the universal nature of these SWCNT carriers for siRNA and believe we will enter clinical trials in the next 12 to 18 months."
Ensysce recently relocated into the Biotechnology Commercialization Center in the Texas Medical Center, a move that will aid its research collaborations at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Rice University. "siRNA has issues with adequate cellular delivery, yet is one of the most intriguing and promising approaches to cancer therapy today," said Dr. Garth Powis, Chair of Experimental Therapeutics at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and member of the Ensysce Scientific Advisory Board. "Ensysce's success in using carbon nanotubes to deliver these macromolecules providing biological activity in tumors is a major accomplishment."
About Ensysce Biosciences:
Ensysce Biosciences, a Houston, TX-based nanotechnology 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 portfolio, including IP developed at Rice University by the late Nobel Prize winner Dr. Rick Smalley.
Source: Ensysce Biosciences Inc.
Released June 10, 2010