Biometals are essential for the normal functioning of human body but sometimes, due to genetic factors, environmental exposure or aging, the balance gets tipped and metal start to accumulate and become toxic.
This toxicity can present itself in many forms:
MexBrain presents a patented combination of dialysis and nanotechnology for metal extraction. To that end ultrachelating compounds are associated to a biopolymer to extract the metals. Our product, the MEX-CD1 is inserted into the dialysate of a regular dialysis monitor, no modification is required on the monitor or on the membrane, this allow us to ensure the safety of our patients.
In a classical dialysis, small molecules and metals will diffuse through the dialysis membrane thanks to the concentration gradient. Once the gradient disappears no more metal can cross the membrane. Our product, the MEX-CD1 captures the targeted metals and prevent the concentration gradient from disappearing. Metals never stop crossing the membrane and more of them can be extracted.
To perform our extraction we use ultrachelating biopolymers, those have multiple avantages compared to oral or intravenous chelators:
- Low to zero toxicity: since there is no direct contact between the blood stream and our product, toxicity will be very limited. Through steps of synthesis and purification, we make sure that our product won’t be able to cross the dialysis membrane.
- High efficiency / specificity: We used recognised chelates on our biopolymers, they allow for a high extraction efficacy while preserving a high specificity towards the targeted metals. Our specificity allows us not to have any impact on bio-essentials metals during the extraction
- High safety: Our products are build in safe-by-design manner, using only chelates and biopolymers that have already been approved for clinical use. In addition to this, we provide a second level of safety by using low dialysis flow rates, thus limiting the risk of failure.
- Versatility: Our products can be adapted to any and all dialysis monitor, generators and devices. They already work with all dialyzers currently on the market and can target many different metals.
To ensure that our product can fulfil its role without any safety risk, we have validated our approach on multiple setups: both in the lab and on live animals that continue to enjoy a happy life!