N4 Pharma Plc (LON: N4P), the specialist pharmaceutical company developing Nuvec®, a novel delivery system for cancer treatments and vaccines, has provided a positive update on its ongoing oral delivery research work.
The Company through its research program with the University of Queensland is evaluating the potential of Nuvec® to act as an oral delivery system for oligonucleotides including DNA and RNA.
Experiments have now confirmed, in vivo, the successful oral administration of Nuvec® loaded with a DNA plasmid for ovalbumin. The Nuvec® was administered by enteric coated capsule and the contents, having been released in the intestinal lumen, were taken up by intestinal cells, with successful transfection and release of the newly synthesized ovalbumin.
Specifically, the first experiment was a repeat of a study conducted earlier this year whereby an enterically coated capsule containing Nuvec® loaded with a DNA plasmid for ovalbumin was administered and protein expression was observed after 3 days. In this recent experiment, an additional second capsule was administered on day 3 which resulted in a much higher peak level of expression on days 4-7.
Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive Officer of N4 Pharma plc, commented:
“This continued success shows that Nuvec® has the potential to be successfully used as an oral delivery system with many potential applications such as a vaccine, a product for Irritable Bowel Disease or to treat colonic cancer among many possible examples. Given the complexities involved in oral delivery this early success with Nuvec® represents a potentially massive opportunity and point of difference for Nuvec® and its use as delivery system to target multiple diseases.
“With this new data we are in the process of scoping out the next phase of work to accumulate sufficient data to enable us to focus on a specific oral application and further news on this will be announced in the new year and we expect to make advancing Nuvec’s® use as an oral delivery technology a key priority for 2024. In the meantime, the University of Queensland will continue its work exploring the use of Nuvec® as an oral delivery system for vaccines as part of our Australian Research Council funded grant with them.”
