LyoGo, a company that specializes in developing devices to deliver injected freeze-dried drugs, diagnostics and vaccines has become a tenant in the Purdue Research Park.
LyoGo has developed patent-pending technology that stores a lyophilized (freeze-dried) drug in one chamber and liquid diluents in another. Other devices that mix and administer lyophilized drugs require between six and 12 steps to operate. As a result, a majority of freeze-dried drugs are mixed by hand using a syringe and vial.
The steps are dangerous and difficult which can result in needle stick injuries or being intimidated by the process. These concerns hinder patient compliance, resulting in the spread and progression of a disease.
Unlike standard devices, LyoGo-designed devices are projected to be very low cost to manufacture and fill and have a one-step mixing process prior to injection. A drug’s shelf life is also improved due to being stored separately from the liquid diluent. Freeze-dried drugs that are kept separate from the liquid until mixing generally don’t require much refrigeration and can be stored for years at room temperature, unlike prefilled liquid drugs.
Nearly half of the injected drugs in the development pipeline must be freeze-dried in order to be stored, along with more than 100 types of drugs, diagnostic reagents and vaccines developed in the 1990s and 2000s that now are coming off-patent.
LyoGo has completed preliminary prototyping with Rose-Hulman Ventures and has raised $150,000 in funding in awards from groups like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NASA, and business plan competitions.
Release Date: May 2, 2011
Source: LyoGo
