Biocompatibles

Overview

Biocompatibles International plc is a medical technology company in the field of drug-device combination products.

Contents

• Biocompatibles says it s targeting 1 million procedures globally of it s drug eluting beads
• Overview
• History
• The Technology
• Pharmaceutical Products
• References

Approved oncology products are supplied and marketed from facilities in Farnham, Surrey, UK and Oxford CT, USA. The product range includes Drug-Eluting Bead products which are used in more than 35 countries for the treatment of primary liver cancer (HCC), liver metastases from colorectal cancer, and other cancers. The company also supplies and markets Brachytherapy products (Radiation-Delivering Seeds) which are used in the treatment of prostate cancer.

Biocompatibles’ UK research and development facilities are engaged in licensing and in new product development, based on the company's core drug delivery technologies in the treatment of cancers..

Cellmed in Alzenau, Germany, is developing a Drug-Eluting Bead product for the treatment of stroke, based on proprietary stem cell technology. Cellmed is also developing a [GLP-1] analogue for the treatment of [diabetes] and [obesity] partnered with [AstraZeneca].

Biocompatibles also has collaborative agreements with Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc., Medtronic Inc. and Merz Pharma.

History

Biocompatibles traces its beginnings to the 1970s and the work of Professor Dennis Chapman (1927–1999) at the Royal Free Hospital in London, England. Professor Chapman and his colleagues were responsible for groundbreaking research in the area of Biocompatibility – the ability of a material to interface within the body without provoking an adverse biological response. They identified Phosphoryl-choline (PC), a substance present in the human cell membrane, as one of the primary natural materials responsible for biocompatibility.

In 1984, Professor Chapman founded Biocompatibles, which patented PC Technology to develop it for commercial applications in the healthcare industry. In 2002, the Company expanded its development to a new field of research based upon embolisation therapy, a minimally invasive treatment for tumours or vascular malformations based upon compressible PVA embolic microspheres.

Biocompatibles has been publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange since 1995 (LSE:BII).

In 2010, the company was acquired by BTG plc for about 156 million pounds.

The Technology

Biocompatibles has a portfolio of granted patents around three biomedical polymer systems.

1) the NFil Technology licensed from the Biocure affiliate of Novartis' Ciba Vision subsidiary, which is used in the Drug-Eluting Beads programme;

2) the CellMed alginate technology, CellBeads, which is required for the encapsulation of biological agents; and the PC Technology that was the Group's original platform;

3) additional patents covering a variety of more product specific Drug Delivery inventions for the delivery of both chemical and biological agents.

Pharmaceutical Products

Biocompatibles research and products are centred on the controlled and accurate delivery of drugs to patients suffering from certain forms of cancer or vascular problems. Research is focused upon the use of drug eluting beads which can be accurately delivered to the point of need and which then releases the necessary drug at pre-determined rates.