June 12th, 2009
Wacker Chemie, the Munich-based chemical company, announced that is has expanded its US based cyclodextrin facility in Eddyville, Iowa. According the the press release issued by Wacker, the new cyclodextrin facility increases the company’s capacity for alpha (α) and beta (β) cyclodextrins by 50 percent and doubles its capacity for gamma (γ) cyclodextrins.
Investment in the entire facility totaled over $21 million and will enable Wacker to produce up to 7,500 metric tons of cyclodextrins a year. The extra capacity is needed to meet the worldwide rise in cyclodextrin demand.
According to the press release, “the ability to reversibly enclose other substances makes cyclodextrins invaluable in many products such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, textiles and food, not to mention in the household-care, personal-care and construction sectors.”
What about entrapping cholesterol in the human body and helping get rid of it? Interestingly, Wacker’s press release does not mention hydroxy propel beta cyclodextrin (HPBCD) and its potential health benefits.
This is the type of cyclodextrin we are giving via intravenous infusions to Addi and Cassi for their fatal cholesterol metabolism disease, Niemann Pick Type C (otherwise known as the “childhood Alzhiemer’s.”) Hydroxy propel beta cyclodextrin is somehow grabbing the stuck cholesterol and taking it out of the twins’ bodies through urine/stool. I wonder if Wacker even knows of this cyclodextrin project or the fact that HPBCD also kills the HIV AIDS virus.
Here are some great facts on cyclodextrins from Wacker:
- Cyclodextrins are cyclic sugar molecules. The number of glucose units defines the size of the sugar ring – alpha-cyclodextrin has six, beta-cyclodextrin seven, and gamma-cyclodextrin eight glucose units
- Cyclodextrins are able to enclose other substances in their interiors, much like a cone encloses a scoop of ice-cream. This enables cyclodextrins to bind ingredients, release active agents and stabilize sensitive substances such as vitamins and coenzyme
- Cyclodextrins have the ability to reversibly enclose other substances making cyclodextrins invaluable in many products such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, textiles and food, household and personal-care
The best part of the whole announcement was this statement — cyclodextrins of all types are non-toxic, non-allergenic and pose no known health risks based on today’s scientific findings!
Filed under Cyclodextrin Research, News | Comment (0)
June 9th, 2009
We all remember the Anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and severely rattled the country post-9/11. Just when you thought there might not be a way to stop this lethal infectious disease along comes beta cyclodextrin, a non toxic sugar compound.
A researcher by the name of Vladimir Karginov at a company called Innovative Biologics is working with beta cyclodextrin and Anthrax. Karginov has designed and synthesized a number of beta-cyclodextrin derivatives and evaluated their ability to inhibit the lethal toxin action of Anthrax. Several compounds displayed anti-toxin activity at low micromolar concentrations in cell-based assays and preliminary toxicity and efficacy studies in rodents produced very promising results. You can read about the research project here.
Anthrax is a highly lethal and infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, a bacteria that forms spores, or dormant cells, which can come to life under the right temperature, nutrients and other conditions to allow growth. Anthrax occurs in humans after exposure to an infected animal or infected animal tissue or when anthrax spores are used as a bioterrorist weapon. There are some effective vaccines against anthrax, and some forms of the disease respond well to antibiotic treatment shortly after exposure. But there is need for new, safe and effective treatments approved by the FDA to supplement traditional intravenous and oral antibiotic therapy such ciprofloxacin (cipro), doxycycline or vancomycin.
I have now reported on beta cyclodextrins ability to kill the HIV AIDS virus and now the deadly Anthrax bacterium. This same non toxic sugar compound is also being used to treat my 5 year old identical twins who have a fatal cholesterol metabolism disorder called Niemann Pick Type C, or the “childhood Alzheimer’s.”
What other lethal bacterias and viruses does this non toxic cyclodextrin compound kill? What does the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Department of Health and Human Services know about cyclodextrin and are they studying it?
Filed under News | Comment (0)
May 11th, 2009
Each day, I learn more about the amazing benefits of cyclodextrins — novel excipients of unexplored potential. Research studies in both humans and animals have shown that cyclodextrins and their derivatives can be used to improve the drug delivery system for almost any type of drug formulation from anti-cancer drugs to anti -viral drugs. In the pharmaceutical industry, cyclodextrins are used as complexing agents to increase the aqueous solubility of poorly soluble drugs and to increase their bioavailability and stability.
When some cancer drugs are combined with cyclodextrins, their bioavailability increases. If a drug’s bioavailability can be controlled in the bloodstream and acceptable drug levels are reached more effectively and precisely, it takes far less of a drug to produce cancer killing effects. Cyclodextrins can help make cancer treatment far less debilitating for a patient undergoing chemotherapy treatment — less of a toxic drug in a person’s system makes for less side effects.
Cyclodextrins were discovered over 100 years ago and the first patent on cyclodextrins and their complexes was registered in 1953. Here is an excellent paper outlining all the benefits of cyclodextrins which I believe has much greater potential than anyone ever imagined: http://www.pharmainfo.net/reviews/cyclodextrins-drug-delivery-systems-update.
Filed under Bioavailability, Cancer Drugs, Cyclodextrin, Cyclodextrin Patents, chemotherapy drugs | Comment (0)
