Spinnaker Biosciences is
developing porous silicon, porous silicon oxide, and porous silicon/polymer
composite materials with uniquely designed optical, chemical, and structural
features that make ideal controlled release drug delivery vehicles. Porous
silicon has been successfully used in vivo owing to its inherent
biocompatibility and biodegradable nature. Additionally, the large porous
volume of these particles allows for protected storage and sustained delivery
of a therapeutic payload while the versatile surface chemistry enables
incorporation of targeting moieties such as peptides, antibodies, or
encapsulating biopolymers. Preclinical animal
studies have demonstrated these silicon-based particles to be biocompatible and
biodegradable with a dissolution profile that matches the drug release profile.
