Medicines delivered through the skin, rather than by injection, may be a ground-breaking spin-off from new peptide technology developed at Auckland University.
“It’s exciting that this research has produced a technology that has the potential for wide biological application, such as vaccination delivery through topical application,” the head of the university’s school of pharmacy, Professor Julia Kennedy, said yesterday.
She was speaking after the Herald reported on the collaboration between New Zealand skincare company Snowberry and the university, on the development of a skincare product using the delivery system. The product, and clinical trials about its effectiveness, have attracted international interest, with Snowberry being invited to present about its anti-wrinkle serum at the World Congress of Dermatology in June.
“This is potentially a break-through peptide technology,” said Professor Kennedy. Obtaining a biological response from applying substances through the skin is very difficult to achieve and approaches can be extremely expensive.”
The novel delivery carrier system allows the peptides to target cells through the skin which is normally seen as a relatively impervious covering and is rarely used for drug delivery.
“This area of research has been notoriously difficult to work in,” she said. “The technology, which is based on a ‘cellular delivery’ approach, is now subject to a patent application.”
The application is being made by Snowberry, which retains intellectual property rights over the development, according to its general manager, Greg Billington. Snowberry co-funded the research which involved its employee and doctoral student, Travis Badenhorst, who developed it over four years. He was supervised in the school of pharmacy by Dr Zimei Wu and Dr Darren Svirkis.
“Drs Wu and Svirskis are thrilled with the success of their technology which has demonstrated that highly beneficial peptides have been delivered to skin cells and have been shown to boost collagen and elastin production, in a way it is believed has never been done before” said Professor Kennedy.
Badenhorst will present the results of human trials on the product to the congress in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Snowberry founder Soraya Hendesi says initial retail supplies of its New Radiance Face Serum with the engineered copper peptide at the centre of the research have all but sold out since the first story in the Herald. A new batch of the locally made serum which retails at $40 is several weeks away.
