The SMARTT approach
Rhenovia Pharma’s, SMARTT e-Patch project recently won an award at the World Innovation Challenge, founded to identify future champions in the French economy. Michel Faupel, Rhenovia Pharma, VP and COO, reveals the science behind the company’s innovation and what it means for pharmaceutical manufacturing
Rhenovia Pharma offers expertise in wireless healthcare technology in with
intelligent drug delivery design and new smart device concepts. Our SMARTT e-Patch device, allows controlled administration of medicinal products in treating chronic conditions such as Alzheimer’s. Wireless technology has huge potential in the healthcare sector and our drug delivery systems offer individual therapeutic applications through smart devices that anticipate therapeutic needs. These are particularly relevant to elderly medical care.
EPM: What could this patch mean for the pharma manufacturing industry?
MF: Rhenovia’s new SMARTT e-Patch device uses wireless technology to enable the pharmaceutical industry to develop and produce tailor-made therapies.
In addition to customisation opportunities, the SMARTT e-Patch offers enhanced efficacy and safety benefits. It can enable dosage reduction and will adapt to assigned pharmacokinetic profiles. This helps reduce potential side effects, while still maintaining the desired levels of efficacy.
Personalised drug delivery combined with a trans-dermal approach provides new solutions and choices in the treatment of poly-pathologies, which are ideally suited to individual poly-medications. And the wireless technology allows instructions to reach the device remotely.
The patch consists of the immobilisation of the active ingredient on nano biovectors, and a physical stimulus (photonics) to release the required amount of active nano biovectors.
Once the active ingredient is released, the drug delivery takes place by diffusion through the skin. In the absence of the correct stimulus, further administration of the compound is completely interrupted.
In general, a physical stimuli (which could be heat, electricity or electromagnetism) will release the active principle from its support.
A thermal stimulus permits the modification of the properties of the skin. However, such change is effective only with the application of a sufficiently large temperature gradient. This carries the risk of degradation of the active ingredient and is unsuitable for the patient. This method also carries the risk of not being reversible if the substrate is
degraded.
The literature has reported an electric potential to stimulate diffusion of charged molecules and/or to improve skin porosity. However, some limitations are still present: it is not possible to use such patches for uncharged molecules and it is difficult to completely terminate active ingredient release.
Rhenovia has a three-pronged approach with the SMARTT e-Patch. Firstly, there is an electronic support comprising a power source and a programmable memory - with which the physician can adjust the dosage for the patient - and at least one light source. The software determines light emission which controls the amount of drug to be released.
Secondly, there is a drug carrier (Rhenovia nano biovectors), which is immobilised through a chemical bond sensitive to a light pulse (this support should allow free diffusion of the active ingredient).
Thirdly, the whole system is assembled with an adhesive backing to maintain the drug carrier contact with the skin, without interfering with the electronic control module.
In my opinion, the patch innovates with the option to apply poly-pharmacy for a poly-therapy within a single support, together with fine and specific adjustments for each patient.
It is possible to control the quantity and time of release of several active ingredients. Furthermore, the potential synergism of the active principles is evaluated by our Neuronal Biosimulation platform, which allows the development of a number of bespoke combinations. These elements guarantee considerable flexibility within individual treatment programmes.
EPM: Is it something that manufacturers would be able to replicate and if so, for what diseases?
MF: The next step for manufacturers is to address the scope of targeted markets. These include prolonged, often lifetime therapies for diverse diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes and neuro-degenerative disorders.
EPM: What's the long-term future for the patch?
MF: In the long term this new category of medical device for trans-dermal administration has the potential to capture a large part of the overall market in medical product manufacturing.
EPM: What significance is it likely to have on pharma manufacturing?
MF: It could substitute classical patches as well as oral administration to treat a high number of existing and novel therapies.
Michel Faupel is co-founder (2007) of Rhenovia Pharma. He is a former life sciences chemist with 38 years experience in biomedical research at the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research, Basel (executive staff member, Systems Biology, Genomics and Proteomics). Faupel is also associate professor (biotech engineering) at the University of Haute Alsace.