BALTIMORE–(The Baltimore Sun)—CraniUS™, June 28, 2023
This small Hampden company is trying to solve a century-old question:
How do doctors bypass the blood-brain barrier?
By Angela Roberts
In a laboratory in Germany nearly 140 years ago, a scientist injected dye into the bloodstream of a mouse and found something puzzling: The dye slowly spread to every organ in the creature’s tiny body, except its brain.
The scientist, Paul Ehrlich, had discovered the blood-brain barrier, a specialized sheath of interlocking cells that block substances from leaving the brain’s blood vessels and interacting with the rest of the organ. Similar to how the skull protects the brain from physical injury, the blood barrier protects the brain from disease-causing pathogens and toxins that may be circulating in the bloodstream.
For decades, scientists have been trying to find ways to bypass the blood-brain barrier to fight deadly and debilitating diseases like brain cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. While they have made progress at major research institutions like the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, leaders at a small company in Hampden say they believe the next milestone in the field will come from their team.
The company, CraniUS, hopes to soon begin human trials on a device designed to be implanted in the skull space and deliver medicine directly to the brain through catheters. Should everything go according to plan, the company will seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a human study by the end of next year and begin the first trial in 2025, CEO Mike Maglin said.
“Think about not only the drugs that are out there that are challenged because of the blood-brain barrier, [but also the ones] that quite frankly companies have stopped developing because of the blood-brain barrier,” Maglin said. “We believe this is also going to be a conduit for new drug development, as well as hopefully resuscitating or keeping some of the drug options on the table that are out there today.”
About CraniUS
About CraniUS™
CraniUS™ was founded May 2021 in Baltimore, MD, as a byproduct of the emerging field known as “Neuroplastic and Reconstructive Surgery”, through the vision, insight, and pioneering work of Dr. Chad Gordon. CraniUS™ has raised over $24M to date, been issued 7 patents, and is currently in the midst of a Series B raise.
The NeuroPASS™ device is currently in the pre-clinical development stage and is not yet commercially available. It is on the pathway to clinical studies, and any information provided is subject to change as research progresses.
