Faculty Spotlight: Russell Mumper, PhD — From Nanoparticles to Blackberries
From Nanoparticles to Blackberries
Mumper’s research interest lies in finding better ways to deliver potent drugs by various routes of administration, and nanotechnology is the crux of his work. He has worked on using nanoparticles to deliver drugs and vaccines, as well as developing topical formulations and microbicides. He also cofounded a company, NanoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc, which is currently developing nanoparticle-based delivery systems for anticancer drugs.
One of the projects he worked on while at the University of Kentucky’s Center for Pharmaceutical Science and Technology took him in what appeared to be a completely different direction. Researchers at Ohio State University had been conducting research to see if freeze-dried black raspberries could be developed into a topical gel that would prevent pre-cancerous lesions from becoming oral cancer, since the anthocyanin in the berries have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. They contracted the CPST to develop a formulation and to conduct a Phase I clinical study.
The clinical trial produced promising results as well more than half of the patients in the study showed stabilization of disease and/or improvement. Media reports about the study caught the attention of Paige Shumate Short, owner of Windstone Farms, the largest blackberry grower in Kentucky. She approached Mumper about starting a company, Four Tigers LLC, to develop potential health and medical products based on the extracts of blackberries, which are related to black raspberries.
With the capacity to grow one hundred and fifty acres of blackberries, Windstone Farms was looking to expand its business opportunities to beyond jams and preserves. Therefore, Four Tigers is developing products—such as blackberry extract chewing gum and blackberry extract lotion—that would have near-term product opportunities while also having the potential for medicinal use. Because these near-term products are not classified as drugs, such products are not as heavily regulated by the FDA and can reach market much more quickly.
“But at the same time, every one of those products can be pursued as an FDA-registered ‘botanical drug product’ if you can find and prove that it is efficacious and safe in treating a disease, and that’s along the lines of where my interests are,” Mumper says.
“For instance, on one hand, the blackberry extract gum could be a food that could be marketed very quickly on the shelf. But we are in the process of facilitating a Phase I clinical study to see if that blackberry extract gum can prevent gingivitis and periodontal disease because of its potent anti-inflammatory properties. The blackberry extract lotion could be marketed as a cosmetic to beautify the skin, but we are also investigating whether or not a blackberry lotion would prevent UV-induced damage to skin and therefore prevent skin cancer. The blackberry extract capsule could be a dietary supplement—no medical claims, just general health benefits—but we are also investigating through a UNC collaborator whether or not the extract would be helpful in preventing various GI-inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome.”
Working with collaborators at OSU, Mumper has developed a mucoadhesive blackraspberry gel to prevent oral cancer. The gel will be entering a multi-center phase II clinical study in 2009-10.
Blackberries and nanoparticles might seem worlds apart, but Mumper sees a similarity between them: They are both tools for drug discovery and drug development.
“You might say, ‘Fruits and nanotechnology?’ But there is a loose common theme, and that is using drug formulations to increase the potency of compounds or drugs,” he says. “These compounds could be anticancer drugs. They could be subunit protein vaccines, like HIV proteins. They could be components of these fruit extracts, like these anthocyanins that have incredible oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-proliferative properties. But they are not stable, and you need to find better ways to formulate and deliver them.”