Europe as leaders in nanomedicine: let's go for it!
2014; Future Medicine; Volume: 9; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2217/nnm.14.14
ISSN1748-6963
Autores Tópico(s)Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics
ResumoNanomedicineVol. 9, No. 4 InterviewFree AccessEurope as leaders in nanomedicine: let's go for it!Laurent LévyLaurent LévyNanobiotix, 60 rue de Wattignies, Bat B, 75012 Paris, France; Published Online:1 May 2014https://doi.org/10.2217/nnm.14.14AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInReddit Dr Laurent Lévy speaks to Hannah Stanwix, Commissioning Editor. Dr Lévy has over 20 years' experience in nanomedicine, supported by a solid understanding of physics, chemistry and biology. He obtained his doctorate in nanotechnology from the Pierre-and-Marie-Curie University and the CEA (France), before pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics at the State University of New York, USA. Here, Dr Lévy collaborated with the Director of the Institute, Paras Prasad, a key scientist working in the nanophotonic and nanobiotech field, to develop a unique vision for adopting nanotechnology to treat cancer. Dr Lévy's cutting-edge biotechnology and nanotechnology research culminated in the development of a nanomedicine platform called NanoXray to address the biggest drawbacks of radiation therapy, namely, the destruction of healthy tissue, among other adverse effects, caused by the high radiation doses necessary to destroy tumor targets. In 2003, Dr Lévy cofounded Nanobiotix, a Paris-based nanomedicine company pioneering novel approaches for the local treatment of cancer. Currently, Dr Lévy is involved in nanomedicine-focused international groups and think-tanks, aside from being an expert for EU funding programs. He is the Vice-Chairman of the European Technology Platform on Nanomedicine (ETPN) and the author of 35 international scientific publications and several patent applications.Q With a background in physics & a PhD in physical chemistry, what led to you found Nanobiotix?Some time ago, I was doing my degree in nanotechnology but it was more focused on the physics of nanotechnology and physical chemistry. I thought it was really interesting because it was very new at the time. There were not many laboratories in the world working on the subject. I felt that physics and electronics were not necessarily the best ways to apply nanotechnology, at least that wasn't what I was really interested in. I thought that applying nanotechnology to biology would be very interesting and I started to think about the potential applications. It is more than 15 years since I thought about destroying a cancer cell with a nanoparticle. It's an easy concept and that is really how I started. I moved to the US to start developing this concept of applying nanotechnology to destroying cancer cells before a few years later incorporating Nanobiotix based on this technology.Q What are the current research focuses at Nanobiotix?We are working on nanomedicine and that's our main focus. More precisely we are working on cancer treatment. We feel that nanomedicine is in our DNA at Nanobiotix, but without using a drug-delivery system. We really want to bring physics to the cellular level, meaning that the nanoparticle is the physical active component itself with no drug involved. We think that in doing so we can bring a completely new mode of treatment for patients. It's much more useful from our perspective than just adding value to existing drugs.Q Can you update us on the NanoXray technology? The NBTXR3 nanoparticles are currently under clinical development: how is this progressing?The products and the pipeline are progressing well. We will soon complete the first phase of clinical development for the NBTXR3, the first product that is made for local treatment of the tumor. Recently, we have finalized the validation of NBTX-IV and NBTX-TOPO, the two other products from a lead perspective and now they are ready move to regulatory preclinical development. We are progressing according to plan.Currently, what we are thinking about is how we are going to move to the next stage in terms of the clinical development. In June we published the first results of the clinical trials with NBTXR3 on the first 12 patients. By the end of the first quarter we should be able to deliver more news about this clinical trial on advanced soft tissue sarcoma. What we have been able to demonstrate is that everything that has been observed in the preclinical tests has been observed in exactly the same way in the patients in the first clinical trial. This is very important, and it is also why we think that using physics instead of biology is less risky in terms of clinical development, because physics is more predictable, and the translational possibility of physics is greater than biology.Q Nanobiotix was awarded the Young Talent Award at the Investors Awards 2013. How did it feel to receive this accolade?It's very nice because the principle of this award is really to gather a number of opinions from of a lot of different investors. Not only institutional investors, but also from the retail sector. Having recognition from more than 30,000 investors, that is quite good! It doesn't mean that we are perfect, but we have been recognized as having good potential from a community of investors. We had received a number of awards in the past but these were more clinical or technical or coming from another type of institution. This is the first time that we've received an award from a financial market perspective and that was very good.Q In a recent talk in your role as vice-chairman of the European Technology Platform on Nanomedicine, you discussed the emerging field of nanotherapeutics. Do you think that the pharmaceutical industry in general has been quite slow to embrace nanotechnology?Yes and I think that's normal, going even beyond the pharmaceutical industry to the whole healthcare system. Trying to implement innovation in the healthcare industry, including the pharmaceutical industry, as a stakeholder, is always slow, for good and bad reasons. Recently though there have been announcements of deals between big pharmaceutical companies and nanotechnology companies, so it is moving quite well at the moment.We've had panel at BIO-Europe with AstraZeneca, Cerulean Pharma and Sanofi. Clearly one of the conclusions of the panel was that in 5 years every big pharmaceutical company will have a nanomedicine programme within their pipeline. We see it in terms of development. Today we can see 200 products in clinical development based on nanomedicine. There are almost 40 products on the market, 500 small and medium Enterprises working in Europe. It is really progressing well and progressing fast. I think that the pharmaceutical companies are using a standard pathway, to first look at the results and then go for it when the solution is not ready but when the solution is de-risked.Q What do you see as being the main challenges facing the nanomedical field currently?I think there is one key area, which is not only in nanomedicine but is the same for all biotechnology and the same for every innovation in healthcare, and that is the translation. Clearly we have identified within the European Technology Platform on Nanomedicine (ETPN) that there is a lack of understanding and that it is hard to translate the product from the idea to the first patient. This bridge has to be built if we want to really structure the nanomedicine field in Europe, and that's clearly the program of the ETPN.Q What more can be done to facilitate the successful clinical translation of nanotherapeutics?First, it is really important to understand what the nanomedical needs are. Many ongoing projects are not responding to any existing or real unmet medical need. In addition, we need to make researchers understand that when you develop a solution, you also need to look at what is out there, is there already another way to solve the problem with a cheaper technology. Those two particular points are often not taken into account by researchers. The third point is the translational part, is it feasible or not, in manufacturing and pricing terms and for the healthcare system. All of this is very important. If we want to really move the nanomedicine field in Europe forward we need to go beyond this. In our program at the ETPN, beside the translational advisory board, which answers these sorts of questions from academia and SMEs to facilitate the transfer and the translation, we also want to establish some kind of central laboratory in Europe that could help the characterization of nanomedicine products. We also want to establish some pilot line operations to manufacture nanomedicine. These measures would really focus projects on eventually making a product.Q Are there any particular areas of research in nanotechnology that you are excited about?The area I'm working on – for us that is just the beginning of using physics in medicine. We could also go further and look at cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. You can look at medicine in terms of biological targets and develop drugs but you could also look at medicine in terms of physical target and then develop a completely new branch of tools to treat or diagnose patients. Clearly we are just at the beginning.Q Where do you see yourself & Nanobiotix in 10 years' time?For nanomedicine in Europe, if we can deliver what we are doing at the ETPN, I think we will definitely lead the field in the world. As for Nanobiotix in 10 years, it is always hard to say, but according to our plan and our focus we should have a product on the market – NanoXray. We need to show that it is working and that we can bring solution to patients with a product on the market. Then we might also look at adding more technologies to the development pipeline.Q Finally, what words of advice would you give to a young researcher considering founding a start-up company?I would say go for it! I think that the nanomedicine field is gaining more attraction and more people, so competition will be hard. On the other hand, we are just at the beginning of really exploiting nanomedicine, and so there is still a lot of empty space to be taken by new technology and new start-ups, so they should definitely go for it.DisclaimerThe opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Future Medicine Ltd.Financial and competing interests disclosureL Lévy is the Co-Founder, CEO, President of the Executive Board and a shareholder of Nanobiotix, a clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering NanoXray, a novel approach for the local treatment of cancer. L Lévy is the Vice-Chairman of the European Technology Platform on Nanomedicine (ETPN). L Lévy has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited ByTailored Approaches in Drug Development and Diagnostics: From Molecular Design to Biological Model Systems11 September 2017 | Advanced Healthcare Materials, Vol. 6, No. 21Nanomedicine as a Business Venture11 November 2014 Vol. 9, No. 4 Follow us on social media for the latest updates Metrics History Published online 1 May 2014 Published in print March 2014 Information© Future Medicine LtdFinancial and competing interests disclosureL Lévy is the Co-Founder, CEO, President of the Executive Board and a shareholder of Nanobiotix, a clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering NanoXray, a novel approach for the local treatment of cancer. L Lévy is the Vice-Chairman of the European Technology Platform on Nanomedicine (ETPN). L Lévy has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.PDF download
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