Psimei Pharmaceuticals receives DTI SMART Exceptional Project Award
UK biopharmaceutical company Psimei Pharmaceuticals has become one of the first biotechnology companies to receive an award of
UK biopharmaceutical company Psimei Pharmaceuticals has become one of the first biotechnology companies to receive an award of £450,000 from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) under the SMART Exceptional Project scheme.
The awards are made for projects that both represent significant technological advances and are of national strategic importance to the industrial or technology sectors and UK competitiveness. The award will enable Psimei, which was founded in 2001, to progress its novel Photon Activation Therapy (PAT) into human clinical trials.
PAT is a novel therapeutic concept that uses X-rays to enhance the therapeutic efficiency of conventional radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer. It works by means of an inert boron-based compound, that is selectively taken up by tumour cells. The compound is activated by standard radiotherapy X-rays and results in significantly greater tumour cell destruction than that achieved with X-rays alone, says Psimei.
Dr Bipin Patel, Psimei's ceo, said: 'Not only does receiving an Exceptional Project Award provide essential funding for us to develop our innovative Photon Activation Technology and progress it into the clinic, but it also represents a significant endorsement of the technology as a potentially successful cancer therapy owing to the high level of assessment required by the DTI.'
The principles behind Psimei's innovative Boron Cellular Radiotherapy technologies and how they can be used to improve the effectiveness of standard radiotherapy techniques for cancer are explained on the company's newly launched website at www.psimei.com.