CRITICAL PHARMACEUTICALS

Critical Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company with proprietary drug delivery technologies for the sustained release and nasal delivery of proteins and peptides and labile or insoluble small molecules. Critical Pharmaceuticals was founded by Professor Steve Howdle in 2002 based on his research into supercritical fluids. When gases reach a certain temperature and pressure (the critical point) they become "supercritical" and take on both gas and liquid like properties. He noticed that supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) was able to penetrate certain polymers, and in a moment of inspiration realised that this could be used to mix thermally labile or solvent sensitive substances into the polymers.