Production and Use of Collagen Mimetic Peptides for Therapeutic and Diagnostic Applications
Brian Del Buono
Vice President, Stuart Therapeutics
Stuart Therapeutics (formerly known as Sustain Scientific) has developed a technology that offers an innovative approach to targeting and delivery of a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic agents. This technology builds upon proprietary structures for collagen mimetic peptides (CMPs), which not only mimic human collagen in its structure, chemistry and behavior, but which also have been shown to intrinsically promote tissue healing, speeding the healing process. Importantly, the CMPs also can deliver small and large molecule therapeutics, biologics and diagnostic agents in a targeted fashion. Using Stuart Therapeutics’ CMP-based approach, the bioavailability of linked drugs and/or biologics can be modulated, creating numerous possibilities for targeted and sustained/timed delivery of medications, at more precise and effective dosages, to a specific area of damage or disease condition, potentially reducing the magnitude of the clinical problem of poor patient compliance in medication administration. The flexibility of Stuart Therapeutics’ CMP-based technology thus offers a new and unique way to control the dosing, efficacy, and potentially the adverse side effects of many therapeutic and diagnostic agents already in use, and to improve the prospects of emerging therapeutic and diagnostic compounds. Stuart Therapeutics is exploring the use of this technology in the treatment and diagnosis of a variety of human and animal diseases and disorders, including those afflicting the eye, skin, and other organs and organ systems, as well as certain types of cancers.