Vindico NanoBioTechnology Inc. Receives $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations Grant

May 11, 2010 - PRLog -- Lexington, Kentucky – Vindico NanoBioTechnology, Inc. (Vindico), announced today that it has received a US$100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  The grant will support an innovative global health research project directed by Vindico’s Chief Scientific Officer Dr. P. Peter Ghoroghchian, titled “A Novel Polymersome-based Spermicide/Therapeutic Delivery Vehicle”.

Vindico’s project is one of 78 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the fourth funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help scientists around the world explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries.  The grants were provided to scientists in 18 countries on six continents.

To receive funding, Vindico Senior Scientist Dr. Gautam Pangu showed in a two-page application how the company's ideas fall outside current scientific paradigms and might lead to significant advances in global health.  The initiative is highly competitive, receiving almost 2,700 proposals in this round.

The Gates Foundation funds will be used by Vindico to develop a novel spermicidal gel. The gel will incorporate FDA-approved spermicidal agents inside polymersomes, the company’s proprietary nanoparticle-based delivery platform. Polymersome formulations aim to overcome limitations associated with current spermicides, including their poor efficacy and irritant side effects.  Dr. Pangu states, “Polymersomes will enable controlled release of a large spermicidal dose, thereby prolonging effective protection. These encapsulated spermicides will be formulated into a gel that will be extremely easy to use.  Further, they will be cheap, safe, stable and can be made available in large quantities.” Vindico aims to rapidly bring these formulations to market by utilizing biocompatible and fully biodegradable materials. Dr. Ghoroghchian adds, “We have established that polymersomes can also incorporate antibiotics and antiviral therapeutics, enabling the administration of a single topical gel with both spermicidal and anti-microbial properties.”

“The winners of these grants show the bold thinking we need to tackle some of the world’s greatest health challenges,” said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program.  “I’m excited about their ideas and look forward to seeing some of these exploratory projects turn into life-saving breakthroughs.”


About Vindico NanoBioTechnology, Inc.

Vindico NanoBioTechnology, Inc., is a privately-held company based in Lexington, Kentucky.  Vindico was founded in 2007 by Drs. P. Peter Ghoroghchian, Eric Ostertag and Paul Tumeh. The company’s polymersome technology was originally invented through collaborations between researchers in the laboratories of Professors Daniel Hammer (University of Pennsylvania), Michael Therien (Duke University), and Frank Bates (University of Minnesota). Vindico is currently developing polymersomes for a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic applications. For more information visit http://www.vindicopharma.com.


About Grand Challenges Explorations

Grand Challenges Explorations is a five-year, $100 million initiative of the Gates Foundation to promote innovation in global health.  The program uses an agile, streamlined grant process – applications are limited to two pages, and preliminary data are not required.  Proposals are reviewed and selected by a committee of foundation staff and external experts, and grant decisions are made within approximately three months of the close of the funding round.

Applications for the current round of Grand Challenges Explorations are being accepted through May 19, 2010.  Grant application instructions, including the list of topics for which proposals are currently being accepted, are available at http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations.