Isis Biopolymer testing patch to cut infections

Isis Biopolymer Inc. is bustling. Started in late 2006 by Emma A. Durand, the Jewelry District company raised $500,000 in its first year, another $4 million since July 2008, and last month, another $3 million. The staff has grown more than tenfold in a year, to about 80 employees.
At the heart of it all is the IsisIQ, a super-thin, “intelligent” patch that uses advanced polymer films and tiny microchips and batteries to deliver drugs through the skin in a process called iontophoresis. It’s already in production, right on Richmond Street.
This month, Isis announced a “strategic collaboration” with Lifespan, which did the first clinical trials of the technology in 2008, to do animal studies and clinical trials for several new applications. Durand, who is CEO and chief technical officer, recently discussed the technology with Providence Business News.

PBN: You’ve introduced the IsisIQ to the world through the “cosmeceuticals” market, with University Medical Pharmaceuticals, of Irvine, Calif. What are you selling?
DURAND: Right now, we have two products on the market, sold at [drugstores]: a brow patch and an under-eye patch that … essentially fill wrinkles. [But] we project out that in two or three years, probably 80 to 90 percent of our business will be prescription products. … Right now, because we have products out with the FDA, we’re basically working primarily in the cosmeceutical area. However, the same technology is used to deliver drugs.

PBN: What trials are you doing with Lifespan right now?
DURAND: We have two. One is for a product we call Gentle Touch, [a lidocaine patch] used at Hasbro Children’s Hospital to minimize the pain associated with IV placements. The goal of Hasbro is to become the first pain-free hospital in the United States, so this works well. The other product is IsisIQ CLI, and that is used for central-line insertions. We believe it will reduce infections associated with those procedures by up to 50 percent. … And we anticipate many more clinical trials over the next 24 months, six or seven more. PBN: What kinds of drugs are suited for delivery in this way?
DURAND: It varies. We’re working with a large pharma company right now on an on-demand nicotine patch. We’re working with another manufacturer for the delivery of stimulants for treating ADHD and other disorders. We’re working with a company on a migraine analgesic. So we have a number of drug therapies and specialized patches in development.

PBN: Transdermal patches were first approved by the FDA in 1981, and there are several on the market. How different is your approach to what competitors are doing?
DURAND: They’re primarily what are called passive patches – they don’t utilize any form of energy to transport the drug. We are unique in that we are able to use highly modulated energy to deliver the drug very, very accurately. In fact, we’ve conducted three separate animal trials [with pigs] to prove that concept, and they were quite successful.

PBN: Why are you in Rhode Island, and in the Jewelry District in particular?
DURAND: We almost were not. We almost went to Annapolis or Bethesda, Md. We had proposals from both. We used to be based in Warwick, and about a year and a half ago, [Providence Mayor] David Cicilline stopped in and said, “Don’t do this, don’t leave.” And he’s been a real facilitator, as well as the folks at Brown University; they’ve been incredibly supportive. And at the last minute we said, you know what? We’re here, we liked what was happening in the Jewelry District and we made a deal with Brown. We’re directly across from the [future] medical school. We can walk to our clinicals at Lifespan, and it’s really kind of a nice neighborhood. PBN: Small, innovative companies really like to cluster together – we hear that a lot. How big a deal is that for you, and do you have enough peers in this area?
DURAND: Yes. In fact, we’re working on a collaboration right now with EpiVax, and we intend to file a number of grants in conjunction with them. It’s great to be able to walk over and talk to people who are working in a similar space. We’re going to be surrounded by that. We have two doctors from Brown who are here probably three days a week.

PBN: The city and some key players have very ambitious plans for the Jewelry District. Do you think they’re going to come to fruition?
DURAND: The two big principals are really Brown and Lifespan, and if they act in concert and help the young companies, I think they will be successful. Frankly, we’ve had zero support from the state. A lot of support from Providence, a lot of support from Brown and Lifespan, zero from the state of Rhode Island. We could’ve gone out the back door, and they never would have known it.

PBN: How fast are you growing?
DURAND: We have about 80 people now, and we expect to be at about 100 to 110 by August. We’re in full production; this is not an idea that is, “Oh, that’s interesting.” This is a product that’s on the market. And virtually no one knows we’re here. … I think the company, within five years, will be anywhere from $75 million to $100 million in sales.

PBN: Do you expect to stay in Providence as you grow to that?
DURAND: Why not? •

To learn more about Isis Biopolymer Inc., go to www.isisbiopolymer.com.