Transcript Slide 1

25 YEARS OF SOL-GEL RESEARCH:
From basic science to an exporting company
David Avnir
Institute of Chemistry
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
INAB visit, January 10, 2011, HUJI Nanocenter
1. Let us start with the summary
* Specialty pharmaceuticals company developing innovative
topical drug products for the dermatology market
* Israeli HUJI know-how
* Established: 1997
* No. Employees: 40
Millions of people worldwide are already using Sol-Gel’s
sunscreen product UV-PearlsTM
Sol-Gel’s investors
* US VCs: Argonaut Ventures, Stata Ventures
* Israeli VCs: Medica, Jerusalem Venture
Partners, Evergreen, the Challenge Fund,
Millennium, the Jesselson Family Fund, others
* Industries: DSM (Holland), Merck KGaA
(Germany)
Dr. Alon Seri-Levy, CEO
2. What is “sol-gel”?
Glasses and ceramics are made traditionally
at very high temperatures
The sol-gel process
* Glasses and ceramics are made at room temperature
* A polymerization process - similar to the preparation of
plastics
* Silicon-oxide building blocks are converted to glass
* Nano-features of these materials:
# Nanoporosity (0.5 – 50nm)
# Nanosized (~1nm) elementary building blocks
# Nanoholes (few nm)
Silica
X 50,000
10
The Sol-Gel Process
Sol Stage
Gel Stage
Xerogel Stage
Nano-sized features:
– Thin Films
– Fibers
– Powders, patricles
– Hollow Spheres – Aerogels
– Membranes
– Porous Monoliths
– Dense Ceramic
Publications in the sol-gel materials field
3500
Papers
Patents (cumulative)
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1980
1985
1990
1995
Year
2000
2005
2010
The main contribution of Israeli science to
the sol-gel field:
Merging organic chemistry and
biochemistry with the field of glasses and
ceramics
Organic functionalization
by physical entrapment of molecules within sol-gel matrices
Sol
Gel
Xerogel
monomer
* Small molecules
oligomer
* Polymers
sol-particle
* Proteins
entrapped
molecule
* Nanoparticles
Optics applications
Chemical industry applications: Catalysis
M. Pagliaro – Sicily, Silicycle – Canada, jointly with Yissum
SiliaCat
TEMPO:
Oxidizing agent for alcohols
• Stoichiometric
• Catalytic
Other oxidizing agents
CrO2
MnO2
TPAP (ruthenium)
Swern oxidation
Dess-Martin periodinane
2
U.S. Patent 6,797,773 B1, 2004
Org. Process Res. Dev. 2007, 11, 766
2
TEMPO
O
O Si O
O
N
H
n
SiliaCat® TEMPO
Toxicity - Hazard
N O
3. Sol-Gel Technologies
How does a sunscreen molecule work?
Octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC)
1. The sunscreen molecule absorbs the UV light.
2. The excited state of that molecule converts the
excess energy into heat (IR) and remains the same.
3. Some of the excited molecules are involved in
unwanted reactions.
The choice of silica glass
• Inert
• Transparent
• Photostable
• Defined as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)
Core-shell capsules for carrying functional contents
The concept:
The sun-rays
The sunscreen capsules
The skin
X 200,000
24
It works!
Protecting the skin from penetration of sunscreens
* First prototype (1999)
* Merck enters, invests $1M (2001)
* First export (2002)
* Market is reached (2003)
* Sold to Merck (2008)
Sunglasses for the Skin
About 379,000 results
for UV-pearls
Maccabi health-care provider
Patent wars
New Products: The Delivery NanoPearls
Delivery Pearls for controlled release –
drugs, vitamins, food additives, antibiotics
Control the rate of release of BPO for acne
treatment
70%
Fraction of Released Benzoyl Peroxide
60%
50%
40%
30%
Brevoxyl 8%
20%
NeoBenz Micro 5.5%
SGT - 5
10%
SGT - 10
SGT - 15
SGT - 20
0%
0
20
40
60
80
Time (Minutes)
100
120
140
160
180
Cool Pearls™ anti-acne treatment
Efficacy after 4 Weeks
Gold-standard
tretment
BEFORE
Cool
Pearls™
BEFORE
AFTER
AFTER
Cool Pearls™ treatment has significantly less side effects
Overall Skin Irritation after 2 Weeks
120
Moderate to
Severe
100
%
80
None to Slight
60
40
20
0
Cool Pearls Ex tra
Proactiv Ex tra
Cool Pearls
Regular
Proactiv Regular
As a result:
* $9M raised in the middle of the major
2009 crisis (right after Lehman’s collapse)
Inherent difficulties of entrepreneurship in Israel
* “War zone”
* Far from the market
* Limited networking
* Limited reservoir of specific experts
* Limited cash-flow resources (“the 8 months horizon”)
* Government regulations and assistance, still in need of
improvement.
In other words…
But…