Empowered Patient Podcast Transforming Administration of Biologics from IV Infusions to Subcutaneous At-Home Injections with Bryan Mazlish Surf Bio
Bryan Mazlish is CEO of Surf Bio, a company focused on novel subcutaneous formulations of biologics to enable patients to self-administer these treatments at home. The limitations of subcutaneous administration have historically made time-consuming IV infusions necessary for many biologics. The growing number of biologics and biosimilars in development will further strain the capacity of infusion centers, making subcutaneous administration a way to increase access, reduce healthcare costs, and improve patient adherence.
Bryan explains, "Surf Bio is focused on enhancing the ability for patients to take a lot of the innovative and novel biologics that are currently on the market and in development. The vast majority of these historically have required a trip to the infusion center at the hospital, which is quite burdensome and takes a lot of time and resources from the patients and the healthcare system. We focus on creating novel formulations of those same drugs. These biologics can be self-administered at home in seconds instead of requiring a patient to spend the better part of the day commuting to and from an infusion center and sitting in a chair."
"When you formulate biologics, they typically are formulated in water and concentrated to very high levels. They become extremely viscous and, consequently, not injectable. So, the ability to inject very high-concentration biologics subcutaneously is limited by the volume that can be administered and the concentration of the biologic that can be squeezed into that volume. As a consequence of this, historically, a large quantity of drug has been diluted at great levels and then dripped into your bloodstream through the intravenous route, which can typically take an hour or, in some cases, multiple hours."
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