Transforming from Bench to Bedside The first indication in the Nanocarry pipeline, which serves to prove the efficacy of the platform, is for metastatic HER2+ breast cancer that has spread to the brain. Breast cancer brain metastases (BCBM) develop in 30–50% of patients with metastatic HER2+ breast cancer. Among tumors that tend to develop brain metastases, tumors originating from breast or lung cancers show the highest percentage of brain metastases that, in most cases, result in patient death. While metastases throughout the body are maintained and sometimes even cured, once the patient develops brain metastases, the disease is considered incurable, with associated neurological complications and a poor survival prognosis of only a few months. Thus, developing strategies for the treatment of BCBM is in great demand. “Before we can bring our first product to the market, we have several milestones to go through,” says Dr. Mandil Levin and elaborates, “our first major milestone was to complete technology transfer from academia into a stable and reproducible manufacturing process; our second milestone was to demonstrate the safety of our platform. Over the recent year, we have completed these two fundamental tasks. We have also shown therapeutic proof-of-concept in various disease models, demonstrating the power of our technology to cross the bloodbrain barrier with positive signals for treating brain diseases.” Nanocarry intends to move into preclinical development, aiming to initiate clinical studies in patients suffering from breast cancer brain metastases in 2024. “Over 15 years ago,” recalls Prof. Popovtzer, “as a young researcher in the world of nanoparticles, when my research moved to the translational level I felt for the first time a sense of awe, understanding the gravity of my research, its potential and the responsibility that comes with it. I knew then that I am committed for life. By establishing Nanocarry Therapeutics, I feel we are getting closer to living up to the trust and the expectations placed on us to make a significant impact on the field of healthcare by providing medicines where there are currently no effective solutions and to be a pipeline of hope to patients in their fight for their life.” Prof. Rachela Popovtzer is the Vice Dean of BIU’s Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering, a BINA senior faculty member and a world leader in developing innovative nanotechnology-based solutions for broad applications, including early diagnosis of disease, targeted drug delivery with fewer side effects and novel therapeutic approaches. Multidisciplinary is well-rooted throughout Prof. Popovtzer’s academic journey: from a graduate degree in physics and philosophy at BIU to an MSc and PhD in electrical engineering at Tel-Aviv University and on to a postdoctoral fellowship in biochemistry at Michigan University. Upon her return to Israel and BIU, Prof. Popovtzer established her multidisciplinary Nanotheranostics for Personalized Medicine Lab. In 2021, following a training program in BIU’s UnBox Ventures and with the support and assistance of BINA, Prof. Popovtzer established a startup company called Nanocarry Therapeutics, aiming to translate her scientific discovery into an impactful biomedical technology that should help hundreds of millions of people who are fighting life-threatening illnesses. “The company is a graduate of UnBox Ventures, BIU’s impact creation platform, where we, the founders, were trained and guided in our first steps as researchpreneurs” 32
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