Prof. Paolo Colombo, CEO of PlumeStars srl, has been invited to enter in the rExpert committee of the research project called AEROPERF. The project will take place in Liège, Belgium, subsidized by the Wallon Region. The Expert Committee included Prof. Nicolas Tsapis of Paris-Sud University and Marco Laackmann of Haro Hofliger.
Read more “Prof. Paolo Colombo invited in the Expert Committee of AEROPERF research project”
On 9th and 10 th December 2019, at the Department of Food and Drug of the University of Parma, the two days course “Quality by Design in Pharmaceutical Development. Theory and case studies”, will take place.
From 3rd to 6th of November, PlumStars will participate at AAPS 2019 AAPS, an annual Conference of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists that will be held at Henry B. González Convention Center, San Antonio, TX, USA.
There will be pitching, demonstrations and great presentations, with take-aways for both investors and innovation driven organizations.
Prof. Paolo Colombo (PlumeStars CEO) will present two different speeches:
The first speech concerns Hyalcis exploits nanotechnology and advanced material research results to bring to market an innovative medical treatment of mesothelioma. The studies until now conducted revealed an interaction between the polymer hyaluronic acid and cisplatin that gave rise to a drug-polymer complex, lymphatically absorbed and blood distributed.
The uptake by pharmaceutical industry of the hyaluronic- cisplatin film technology studied by PlumeStars will assign a more effective cure against recurrences of this rare and very aggressive form of cancer that is difficult to diagnose and highly resistant to anticancer drugs.
Dr. Eride Quarta (PharmD; PhD Student, PlumeStars Research Leader) will present:
AAPS PharmSci 360 combines all the energy of a large scientific conference with the intimacy of a niche meeting.
Five robust tracks covering all aspects of the pharmaceutical sciences, hundreds of exhibitors with dozens of additional learning opportunities, thousands of scientific posters featuring the latest, most innovative research in the field.
Prof. Paolo Colombo, CEO of PlumeSTARS and Dr. Eride Quarta, Research Scientist of PlumeSTARS, attended the 5th International TB Meeting “Inhaled therapies for tuberculosis and other infectious diseases” in Groningen (The Netherlands) from 25 to 27 August 2019.
Prof. Paolo Colombo, as chairman, opened the First Session on formulations and devices, saying that Integrating the tuberculosis systemic drug administration with targeted loco-regional treatment improves the therapy effectiveness. The congress proposal in this direction was to introduce the administration of anti-bacterial drugs by inhalation as an adjunct to systemic therapy. This strategy allows a direct attack to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis, i.e., the disease responsible.
Pulmonary drug products, in particular the most technologically advanced dry powders inhalers, imply a demanding pharma-tech development, since numerous variables for controlling the deposition of drug particles are involved. Bronchial or alveolar regions are the targets of TB disease.
The powders for inhalation are essentially formulated by crushing drug particles by milling or by constructing ex novo microparticulate shapes. In general, in infective lung diseases, the products present a high amount of powder to inhale for dose administration. In addition, in TB, more than one drug has to be delivered at same time. This forces the device technologies for metering, aerosolization and deposition to be strongly innovative.
In summary, formulation and device for anti-TB dry powder inhalation products are not simple combination products. Their sophistication is essential to facing the interaction among product, patient and microbial target. Local concentration of antibiotics, retention time and compliance with daily dosing could also suggest compounding of prolonged release formulations, using colloidal particles and controlling dissolution rate using compatible safe polymers. Therefore, novel inhaled antibiotic formulations, such as dry powder for inhalation, are promising as problem solving drug composition.
Finally, also Dr. Eride Quarta,research scientist of PlumeStars and PhD student of Department of Food& Drug at Parma University, presented the research contribution“Microparticles embedding streptomycin sulfate and isoniazid albumin co-nanoparticles for dry powder inhalers”.
PlumeSTARS srl, the start up at University of Parma, received a new financial funding within the Horizon 2020 program. In the last round of the EIC SME-Instrument Phase 1 – cut off of 13 February 2019 – 277 small and medium-sized enterprises from 25 EU countries have been selected for funding. PlumeSTARS is one of them.
PlumeSTARS got a contribution of 50,000 euros for preparing the Business Plan of its Orphan Medicine Hyalcis. The productis a Polymeric biodegradable film, loaded with cisplatin drug, the active substance for cancer treatment. The film, developed and tested in collaboration with the Department of Medicine & Surgery (Prof Paolo Carbognani) and Department Food & Drug (Prof. Fabio Sonvico) of the University of Parma, is proposed to be implanted in the thoracic surface after the removal of primary tumor in the pleural mesothelioma cancer. The product, already tested in animals, obtained the Orphan medicine designation and is on way for studies in human trials, with the goal of market authorization application.
Most of the selected SME-Instrument candidates are active in the ICT, health and engineering sectors: the beneficiary companies come from Spain (46), Switzerland (23) and France (22). 21 Italian companies are beneficiaries, including PlumeStars srl.
The SME- Instrument program is part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot project, which supports high-level innovators, entrepreneurs, small businesses and scientists with funding opportunities and acceleration services.
PlumeSTARS participated at the 2nd International Awareness Session – The EU medicines regulatory system and the European Medicines Agency which was held on 8 and 9 March in London (UK).
Saturday, January 13th the award ceremony of the Sant’Ilario Prize (2018 edition) was held at the Paganini Auditorium in Parma.
Prof. Paolo Colombo, Professor emeritus of the University of Parma and CEO of PlumeSTARS, has received the certificate of civic merit for the very high research activity in the field of pharmaceutical technology and for the fundamental contribution in the development of the most modern technologies and innovative products with the achievement of fundamental patents for the sector with recognition of numerous international awards and honors.
