Disulfican was created as a spin-out company from the University of Wolverhampton in 2018, owns the patents and other intellectual property related to encapsulated disulfiram, and is now focussed on advancing this therapy into clinic. We developed intraperitoneally injectable PLGA-encapsulated disulfiram microparticles which is protected by recently granted patents, for localized therapy of Malignant Mesothelioma.

Malignant mesothelioma is a rare cancer in the chest and abdominal cavities as a result of asbestos exposure. Our intraperitoneally injectable PLGA-disulfiram microparticles is very suitable for locally infiltrating cancers like mesothelioma. Due to the peritoneal-plasma barrier, high intraperitoneal drug concentration can be achieved by this route, at the same time keeping systemic concentration low to reduce adverse side effects. The slow-release profile of PLGA-disulfiram microparticles will maintain the local drug concentration for longer period of time, avoiding the need for repeated administration of drug. PLGA-disulfiram is suitable for both conventional intraperitoneal administrations using catheters and newer methods like pressurized intraperitoneal aerosolized chemotherapy (PIPAC). This approach is also suitable for local administration in pleural space using indwelling pleural catheter (IPC).

Our efforts have provided significant opportunity to develop an affordable effective anticancer drug within a shorter period

Together with a collaborating team in our development, Disulfican successfully completed the work on the initial stages of developing this new therapy for Mesothelioma treatment.

In the last 5 years, Disulfican has developed a GMP quality human applicable PLGA-encapsulated Disulfram microparticles as a novel anti-cancer therapy suitable for mesothelioma. We used FDA approved PLGA and pharmaceutical grade disulfiram and tested the anticancer efficacy in patient derived mesothelioma cell models and mouse models. Promising preclinical results have been achieved in these models for the encapsulated disulfiram.

Disulfican continues to carry out the necessary evaluation of safety, toxicity and efficacy, developing a pre-clinical data package so that clinical trials of encapsulated disulfiram can be considered.

Our efforts have provided significant opportunity to develop an affordable effective anticancer drug within a shorter period of time which will be highly beneficial to cancer patients, NHS and the UK society.