Cristal: Tunable nanoparticles

Cristal Therapeutics aims to improve the therapeutic profile of drugs by entrapping them within biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles. While the company's CriPec platform has several characteristics in common with other polymer-based nanoparticle carriers, it may be better able to increase efficacy and safety.

The platform uses thermosensitive polymers that self-assemble into micelles when the temperature is raised above a critical level. During the process, sections of the polymers that make up the micelle core polymerize and form crosslinks with one another, thus stabilizing the micelle to form the CriPec nanoparticle and preventing its premature dissociation upon administration...