Blood-Brain Barrier Booming As A Source Of New Biotechnology Research Challenges

Industry observers predict increased opportunities as firms set their sights on novel techniques for drug delivery. 'HUGE EXPLOSION: Many potentially therapeutic brain molecules are a boon, asserts Richard Pops. Finding ways to sneak therapeutic drugs past the seemingly impenetrable blood-brain barrier -- a tightly bound wall of endothelial cells that protects the brain from pathogens and other substances -- is keeping a small cadre of biotech firms busy. Researchers at these companies, as

Written byKaren Young Kreeger

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Industry observers predict increased opportunities as firms set their sights on novel techniques for drug delivery.

'HUGE EXPLOSION: Many potentially therapeutic brain molecules are a boon, asserts Richard Pops.

Finding ways to sneak therapeutic drugs past the seemingly impenetrable blood-brain barrier -- a tightly bound wall of endothelial cells that protects the brain from pathogens and other substances -- is keeping a small cadre of biotech firms busy.

Researchers at these companies, as well as universities and the National Institutes of Health, are working on new drug-delivery techniques that can bypass the barrier and combat a host of diseases affecting the central nervous system (CNS). Observers see rich research and job opportunities in the not-too-distant future for neuroscientists and other investigators developing these delivery systems.

"With the aging of the U.S. population, neurology and diseases of the brain are going to become disproportionately important," predicts Nigel Webb, president and CEO ...

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