Aphios Corp.

NORTH READING, Mass.--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Aphios announced today that it was awarded an NIH SBIR grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to develop anti-CCR5 nanoparticles to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer's disease and dementia are debilitating diseases affecting over 6.7 million people in the United States and over 55 million people worldwide. Alzheimer's disease has been characterized by multiple factors, including but not limited to amyloid plaque formation, tau protein entanglement, enzyme degradation and inflammation. Inflammation in the brain is associated with the CCR5 gene that increases with age. CCR5 has been correlated with impairments in memory consolidation in aged mice, which was reversed with a CCR5 knockout drug that inhibits this receptor. According to Dr. Trevor P. Castor, Principal Investigator, “We are utilizing targeted nanoparticles manufactured by our proprietary PNS (polymer nanoparticles) technology to transport the anti- CCR5 antagonist across the blood brain barrier (BBB) to knock down the CCR5 gene, control inflammation, and manage dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.” Additionally, he continues, “Our nanotechnology platform will be able to co-transport our anti-CCR5 antagonist with other therapeutics such as anti-amyloid antibodies with different and potentially synergistic mechanisms of actions into the Alzheimer's disease brain.” About Aphios Corporation: Aphios Corporation is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing enabling technology platforms to improve drug discovery and manufacturing, nanotechnology drug delivery and pathogenic safety of biologics. Based on these platforms, we are developing enhanced therapeutics to prevent disease, maintain health/improve quality-of-life and treat chronic diseases including cancers/supportive care, infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, influenza and COVID-19, and CNS disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease in an environmentally sustainable manner. Research reported in this press release is supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number R43AG085863. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

NORTH READING, Mass.--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Aphios Corporation announced today that it has been granted Japanese Patent No. 7,520,838 for novel compositions to treat folic acid deficiency and morning sickness. The dosage forms have an effective amount of a folic acid, gingerols and shogaols to suppress nausea, relieve gastric distress and promote hematopoiesis. Pregnancy related nausea and vomiting (PRNV) is the most common medical condition during pregnancy. PRNV affects up to 70% of women during their first trimester, and many in the second and third trimester. The most serious form of PRNV is called Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) that is reported in up to 10% of pregnant women. PRNV and HG affects women's quality of life and exerts a large economic impact on patients, caregivers and society. There are only a few medications approved by the FDA to treat and manage PRNV and HG. Folic acid deficiency can also have a significant impact on the health and welfare of newborns, parents, caregivers and society. Folic acid is necessary and critical to fetal development during pregnancy since it promotes DNA synthesis and cell division, affecting hematopoietic cells. In addition to folic acid, a number of medications that include folic acid have been used in the past to treat this deficiency during pregnancy. These supplements are also associated with nausea and upset stomach. There is thus a need to develop improved formulations which do not cause gastric distress and nausea. According to Dr. Trevor P. Castor, inventor of the patent, “These novel compositions impact high unmet needs to manage pregnancy related nausea and vomiting without synthetic drugs, while improving the health of the fetus and mother with folic acid supplements, managing any resulting gastric distress and improving hemostasis that is accomplished by both gingerols/shogaols and folic acid supplements.” About Aphios Corporation: Aphios is an emerging growth, green biotechnology company using earth-friendly supercritical fluids and nanotechnologies to develop enabling technology platforms. Based on these platforms and inspired by nature, we are developing enhanced therapeutics to maintain health, improve quality-of-life and treat chronic diseases including certain cancers and Zindol ® for chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, influenza and COVID-19, and CNS disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and opioid addiction in an environmentally sustainable manner.

WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Aphios Corporation announced today that it has been granted US Patent No. 11,981,174 for CCR5 and CD4 siRNA-targeted therapeutics for treatment of HIV-1 and other diseases. More than 35 million people have died from AIDS, and 37 million people are living with HIV worldwide. In the United States, an estimated 1.2 million people are currently living with HIV and approximately 40,000 infections occur each year. There is no vaccine against HIV, and current medications have multiple long-term adverse effects such as: (i) rapid emergence of pools of drug-specific resistance HIV mutants that are not responsive to treatment; (ii) drug toxicity; (iii) drug/pill burden that often cause non-adherence; and (iv) high lifetime economic costs. Therefore, the need for alternative therapeutic approaches/strategies remain a critical challenge to global public health. RNA-based therapeutics hold great promise in the progress towards alternative HIV treatment. Specifically, small interfering ribonucleic acid (hereinafter referred to as siRNA) has widely been demonstrated to protect hosts from viruses, making this evolutionary conserved double-stranded RNA an important candidate for therapeutic intervention. But full harnessing of RNA as therapeutics is significantly impeded by the lack of appropriate delivery strategies that ensure RNA stability and potency in humans. In this invention, novel siRNAs were designed to downregulate CCR5, CD4 and CXCR4 genes, based on an analysis of all known alternative transcripts for each gene from both human and monkey (Macaca mulatta) genomes. SuperFluids are used to nanoencapsulate siRNA in phospholipid liposomes and lipid nanoparticles (nanosomes) for the improved delivery of siRNA and other biologics to diseased cells. Elements of the invention also pertain to targeting nanosomes containing specific siRNA sequences to cells expressing those receptors on the cell surface by coating them with specific ligands. Nanosomal formulation of siRNA and small molecules offers a potential avenue to improving the efficacy of siRNA constructs. About Aphios Corporation: Aphios ( ) is an emerging growth, green biotechnology company developing enabling technology platforms to improve drug discovery and manufacturing, nanotechnology drug delivery and pathogenic safety. Based on these platforms, Aphios is developing enhanced therapeutics to improve quality-of-life and treat chronic diseases including cancers, infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and central nervous system disorders in an environmentally sustainable manner.