NMIN Funded Theme I Project in Targeted Drug Delivery
Development of a targeted FAST-LNP formulation of cabazitaxel to improve efficacy and safety for prostate cancer treatment
PI: John D. Lewis (University of Alberta)
Co-Investigators: Roy Duncan (Dalhousie University)
Collaborators: Arun Raturi (Entos Pharmaceuticals), Michael Kolinski (University of Alberta), Adrian Fairey (University of Alberta)
HQP: Konstantin Stoletov, Maryam Hejazi, Douglas Brown
Partners: APCaRI, Entos Pharmaceuticals, OncoSenX, Precision Nanosystems
Status: Active – funding cycle: 2020-2022

In this project, we propose to encapsulate the small molecule cabazitaxel in FAST-liposomes and assess the incorporation of ligand-directed targeting to cancer-specific receptors to improve efficacy and safety.

Taxane chemotherapies such as Cabazitaxel are currently approved for several solid tumours including prostate cancer, and this project will seek to improve their side-effect profile to further improve efficacy.

Successful implementation of the outputs of this project will have significant positive academic, social and economic impacts. Industry partners including Entos Pharmaceuticals, OncoSenX, Precision Nanosystems; academic partners such as the University of Alberta, the Alberta Prostate Cancer Research Initiative (APCaRI), the University of British Columbia, and the NMIN Network; and healthcare and patient stakeholders will benefit from the development of a well-tolerated, non-immunogenic, targeted delivery platform for oncology chemotherapy drugs such as cabazitaxel to prostate, breast and pancreatic cancers.