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OUR
VISION
To diagnose and treat degenerative diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy by providing the best long-term innovative solutions.
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Therome Innovation Partners, LLC is a start-up aimed at providing formulation development and testing services to pharmaceutical companies. Therome's lead technology is a patented tunable liposomal drug delivery platform for sustained release of ocular drugs to treat infections and retinal diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. According to the Bright Focus Foundation, as many as 11 million people in the US have some form of age-related macular degeneration. The number is expected to double to nearly 22 million by 2050. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that the number of Americans with diabetic retinopathy will double from 7.7 million to 14.6 million by 2050.
Current available treatment with anti-VEGF injections are considerably diminished within a week in the eye and hence requires monthly injections. Therome’s patented formulations will significantly reduce the amount of injections administered to once every 6 months. This was achieved by encapsulating the antibodies within stable liposome formulations that release the drug in sustained manner.
Therome has a growing portfolio with patents for new technologies in diagnostic biomarkers, anti-oxidant prodrugs, and other novel drug delivery systems, such as coatings and hydrogels. Our mission is to continue transforming research and science into real-world products to improve the quality of life for those suffering from diseases.
PARTNERS
Therome Innovation Partners works closely with the Northern Illinois Research Foundation (NIRF) to protect the intellectual property rights of Northern Illinois University. Therome has utilized Northern Illinois University's facilities during the development and pre-clinical stages of the liposomal drug delivery system.
RESOURCES
In addition to having access to NIU lab capabilities, Therome's biggest resource are the researchers behind the medicine. Dr. Elizabeth Gaillard and Dr. Kalyan Karumanchi, the founders of Therome, have done extensive research on macular degeneration and have produced multiple publications on the subject.
PATENTS
Patented technologies allow Therome to keep advanced delivery techniques unique to our company.
These patents include:
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US9962333B2: covers ocular drug delivery of Anti-VEGF, antimicrobials, antibiotics, anti- inflammatories, glaucoma drugs, diagnostic molecules.
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US 2018/221483: covers polymer coatings, films, liposome entrapped coatings and coated lenses for ocular drug delivery.
WE ARE THEROME
DR. ELIZABETH GAILLARD
Distinguished Research
Professor
Dr. Elizabeth Gaillard is a distinguished research professor within the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Biological Sciences at Northern Illinois University. She has had almost 23 years of experience working at NIU and is a leading researcher of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) receiving about 1.5 million dollars in various research grants. She received her Bachelor's degree from Florida State University, and her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin.
DR. KALYAN KARUMANCHI
Life Sciences Research Consultant and Entrepreneur
Dr. Kalyan Karumanchi is a Life Sciences Patent Research Analyst at Global Patent Solutions, LLC. He serves as a visiting research scientist at Northern Illinois University for the past five years with specialization in biomarker and drug delivery research. He received his Bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences from Acharya Nagarjuna University, his Master’s from Governors State University, and his PhD from Northern Illinois University.