Nanoparticles Tailored for Improvement

Tandem Nano Limited (Tandem) a spin-out from the University of Liverpool, was created to provide technology that makes insoluble chemicals and materials disperse in water. This offers potential for cost reduction and the improvement of the effectiveness of drugs and chemicals across a broad range of products, from medications to detergents and cleaning agents.

A collaboration between the Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology and the Department of Chemistry spearheaded by the research groups of Professors Andrew Owen and Steven Rannard, Tandem’s technology provides partners with tailored nanoparticles of insoluble materials allowing beneficial results to be achieved faster and more cheaply than with traditional approaches. For pharmaceuticals, the approach may minimise some of the risk of drug failure during development.

Once the market opportunity was identified, the services of Liverpool IP were engaged to merge a suite of existing patents with University technology enabling the team to turn their science into commercial opportunities. Professor Owen explains: “The company is about applying practical science and clinical expertise to deliver a step-change for drug delivery, which means lower cost of drug production, fewer problems with side effects and the possibility for enabling the development of a host of new medicines. Key to the company strategy is the early integration of pharmacology with materials chemistry.”

Professor Rannard added: “Although the technology has applications in many market areas, our initial focus is pharmaceuticals. As encapsulated in the company name, we aim to exploit our combined expertise to enable improvements across a range of current medicines and facilitate the exploitation of exciting new developments within our research.”

For more information about the company, please visit:www.tandemnano.com