MIPS drug delivery technology GlyphTM reaches new milestones
MIPS drug delivery technology Glyph™ reaches new milestones
The drug delivery technology Glyph™ was developed by Professor Chris Porter and his team at MIPS, including Natalie Trevaskis, Sifei Han, Luojuan Hu, Tim Quach and Jamie Simpson.
The Glyph technology has been licensed since 2017 to commercial partner PureTech Health plc, a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercialising highly differentiated medicines for devastating diseases.
Glyph™ is specifically designed to enable the trafficking of small molecule drugs directly into the mesenteric lymphatic system following oral administration. This has been described as piggybacking onto lipid absorption pathways, targeting drug absorption to the lymphatic system and away from the liver.
MIPS and PureTech scientists have been working together to further develop the platform.
In 2022, a study led by a team of MIPS researchers published preclinical proof-of-concept demonstrating that PureTech’s Glyph™ prodrug technology platform has the ability to increase absorption of buprenorphine (BUP) up to 20-fold, along with bringing statistically significant increases in lymphatic transport. BUP is a drug used for severe pain management and opioid replacement therapy.
At present, BUP cannot be administered in an oral formulation. The proof-of-concept is an exciting step towards enabling patients to more conveniently access a BUP product to help manage their pain or opioid dependence.
“The ability to develop an oral buprenorphine product with good oral absorption properties could address a range of important unmet clinical needs,” said Professor Porter.
The drug delivery platform also experienced a significant milestone with the first clinical validation of the Glyph technology in humans.
‘LYT-300’ is an oral form of allopregnanolone and is currently the only FDA-approved medication on the market specifically for treating postpartum depression (PPD), a condition that may affect up to one in five mums. However, it must be administered as a 60-hour intravenous infusion (due to breakdown in the liver after oral administration): a method that has inherent limitations.
The ongoing Phase 1 clinical study of LYT-300 showed that, when orally administered via the new drug delivery technology ‘Glyph™’, systemic blood levels were approximately nine-fold greater than that of orally administered allopregnanolone. This has the potential to dramatically increase practicality and usability.
“These data show that allopregnanolone can be successfully administered orally, which is very encouraging not only for women with PPD, but also for those with other neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions, including other forms of depression, anxiety and sleep disorders, who could benefit from an oral form of allopregnanolone,” Professor Porter said at the time of the announcement.
“Because Glyph re-routes drug transport via the lymphatic system, it has the potential to enhance the bioavailability of orally administered drugs like allopregnanolone. In addition, since it selectively traffics therapeutics into the lymphatic system, it has the potential to target therapies to the immune system. We are hopeful that LYT-300 will be the first of many applications for Glyph,” Professor Porter said.
