The field of cancer therapy is rapidly emerging with new drug being discovered almost daily. But only a few of them can actually target the cells which cause cancer.
If not removed these cancer-initiating cells or cancer stem cells can lead to tumor metastasis. Various research articles highlighted the role of cancer stem cells in tumor initiation, progression and even metastasis but even today there is no drug in the market that can target these cancer stem cells.
This is when Abhishek Dutta and Swastika Paul made the most whimsical entry into the world of entrepreneurship while wrapping up their PhD journey in the city of joy, Kolkata. They co-created EXSURE®, an R & D based health-tech startup in the city of temples, Bhubaneswar, Odisha with a vision of enhancing the survival of cancer patients and improving their quality of life. Over a regular “Chai pe Charcha”, these two PhD scholars dreamt about saving lives of breast cancer patients using biological nano-vesicles called exosomes. They planned to harness the power of these biological particles to precisely deliver chemotherapy drug to the cancer stem cells effectively killing them. During the lockdown of 2020 they prepared and finalized their plan of action and applied for the prestigious BIG-BIRAC grant (a flagship programme of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council by Department of Biotechnology). After receiving fund from the council they started working on developing their drug-delivery platform “ExoDSTM” at KIIT-TBI, Bhubaneswar. With the help of KIIT-TBI and the constant guidance of Dr. Namrata Mishra (Head of Technology Incubation, KIIT-TBI) and to Dr. Mrutyunjay Suar (CEO, KIIT-TBI) in just 1 year they have developed their working prototype and tested it in various breast cancer cell lines. ExoDS™ can successfully reduce chemotherapy-associated side effects by 70% and effectively targets cancer stem cells which the free chemotherapy drugs cannot target. In just 1 year of inception EXSURE® has featured as the Top20 startup by Startup Odisha, and also won the LSM Kolkata Chapter organized by IIT Kharagpur. They also won the 2nd prize at HST 2022 organized by IIT Mandi Catalyst. Presently EXSURE® is conducting murine trials in collaboration with ILS Bhubaneswar.
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Not following traditional path after their PhD life they decided to directly help the cancer patients with the knowledge they have gained throughout the years of research. Their vision and hardwork has inspired many to team up with EXSURE® to realize their vision. Their efforts have been admired by Oncologists and have lead to research collaboration with eminent medical institutions like KIMS Hospital Bhubaneswar. They are also inspiring a lot of young biotechnologists Pan India and training them at EXSURE®.
Abhishek and Swastika are now planning to take EXSURE® to the next level by raising funds and using them to complete the pre-clinical development of ExoDS™ and entering into Phase 1 study.
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