51 therapeutics to the brain. Through its breakthrough AxS bioengineered nanoplatform, Nanocarry is able to treat brain tumors, metastatic cancers, and neurodegenerative diseases with therapeutic antibodies. Originally developed by Dr. Oshra Betzer, a researcher in the lab of Vice Dean of the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering Prof. Rachela Popovtzer, the decade-in-the-making AxS nanoplatform combines scientifically and clinically wellestablished safe components into a proprietary, universal, and adjustable delivery system capable of crossing the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB). By pioneering the use of the insulin molecule as a brain transporter—itself made possible by the proprietary bioengineering of gold nanoparticles—the AxS platform effectively delivers high quantities of therapeutic antibodies as well as a variety of cargo combinations directly to the brain, creatingmultifunctional drugswith significantly higher efficacy than conventional therapies. “About 98 percent of all existing drugs can’t breach the blood-brain barrier. Within the therapeutic antibodies group, the number is even higher. Due to their large size and characteristics, only a tiny percentage of an injected dose of antibodies makes it to the brain,” explains Nanocarry CEO Revital Mandil Levin, who co-founded the company with COO Betzer and CSO Popovtzer in 2021. “This means that for the more than 450 million patients with brain disease, there is currently no viable therapeutic option. We believe we can turn this around, however, and offer therapies for brain diseases that were not possible before.” Having completed tech transfer, manufacturing scale-up, and in vivo safety models, Nanocarry—which received pre-seed funding from investors including NFX, Sapir Venture Partners, the Israel Innovation Authority, and Bar-Ilan University—now aims to achieve proof of concept in its first platform-based product, designed to deliver HER2 therapeutic antibodies. These antibodies, which are extremely effective in controlling breast cancer, only work from the neck down; Nanocarry hopes to extend their efficacy to the treatment of breastcancer metastases in the brain. Indeed, its future plans include extending the platform to other brain metastases, such as melanomas and cancer of the lung, as well as primary brain tumors, neurogenerative illnesses, and other diseases of the brain. “The first time Oshra saw in her mice brain scans that the antibodies from the AxS platform had not only succeeded in reaching the brain, but were also accumulating in the tumor there, she was crying tears of joy,” recalls Mandil Levin. “It was always a given that if you can deliver antibodies to the brain, you’ll sacrifice efficacy, and if you can maintain their strength, you’ll kill the patient through toxicity. But Oshra and Rachela, who came at the challenge from an engineering, as opposed to a purely biological background,” she concludes, “have literally built the trinity of targeted delivery, high efficacy, and safety into a solution to one of healthcare’s most intractable problems today.” Sharon Handelman-Gotlib Shela CEO Prof. Omry Koren Prof. Yoram Louzoun Nanocarry’s AxS nanoplatform for brain delivery
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