The IBEC and ICREA launch the spin-off Nanobots Therapeutics to develop a new nanotherapy modality in the field of oncology

Nanobots Therapeutics is the spin-off recently created by the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) that proposes to develop a technology based on nanorobots with unique penetration capabilities in tumors. The therapies based on this technology are more effective and safer. They also make it possible to respond to unmet medical needs, such as treatment for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). The new spin-off has the participation of IBEC, ICREA, private partners, and Dr. Samuel Sánchez as a founding academic partner.

The spin-off Nanobots Therapeutics was established on January 17, 2023, with the participation of IBEC, ICREA, and private partners. Its objective is to develop and commercialize the technological platform Therapeutics-in-Motion, conceived in the laboratory of Samuel Sánchez of IBEC, a world pioneer in using nanorobots for medical applications. This platform, which has different applications, includes innovative, more effective, and safer strategies to treat cancer and would initially focus on non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

The new technology is based on the development of nanocarriers capable to self-propell. To do this, they are optimized with different enzymes that allow them to move in fluids with high content in specific substrates. This unique and innovative platform enables the penetration and accumulation of different types of drugs in cancer cells, even in the most adverse conditions, and has as its goal to improve the safety and efficacy of current cancer treatments, which often do not have such a targeted effect and end up affecting healthy cells as well.

The technology developed, which had the support of the “la Caixa” Foundation for its development and validation, covers one of the greatest demands of the pharmaceutical company, which is to have strategies to cross the biological barriers of tumor tissue and increase the selectivity and effectiveness of oncological drugs.

**Image 2:** Microscopy image of the nanorobots or nanocarriers.

Dr. Samuel Sánchez, the academic founder of the company, is an ICREA research professor at the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), where he leads the Smart Nano-Bio Devices group. Sánchez has received numerous awards for his pioneering work in the biomedical application of nanorobotics and has been awarded some of the most competitive projects at the national and the European level, including four ERC Grants and prestigious awards such as the Banco Sabadell research award, National Research Award for Talent Jove, Innovator of the Year by MIT TR35, or the Princess of Girona Award for research, among others.

Image 1: Samuel Sánchez, IBEC researcher, showing a video of the nanorobots of the spin-off Nanobot Therapeutics