Iranian Company Manufactures Electroporation, Electrochemotherapy Devices
“Although foreign counterparts of these devices are available in the market, our company, as the first and only manufacturer of electroporation devices in Iran, has focused on the specific applications of this device in the field of producing biological drugs, transgenic plants, genetic engineering, gene therapy and cell therapy,” Amineh Mohammadi Moqaddam, the head of Research and Development (R&D) department of the knowledge-based company, told ANA.
She explained that by creating electric fields, the electroporation device creates pores on the surface of the cell membrane, which allows genes, proteins and RNA to enter the cell, adding, “This technology has wide application in the production of biological and recombinant drugs.”
“Although European countries, the US, Israel, South Korea and Japan also produce electroporation devices, the main competitive advantage of our products is in the field of electrochemotherapy. We have produced the first electrochemotherapy device in the Middle East that is used in the treatment of cancer,” Mohammadi Moqaddam said.
Electrochemotherapy is a way of getting chemotherapy into cancer cells. It is a combination of chemotherapy injected into the tumour or bloodstream and an electric pulse to send the chemotherapy into the cancer cells (called electroporation).
Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. Electrochemotherapy uses chemotherapy and a small electrical current to treat cancer cells. The doctor injects a low dose of chemotherapy into the tumour or a vein (intravenously).
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