Toray Develops Porous Fibers that Adsorb Pathogenic Substances of Intractable Diseases

Toray Industries, Inc. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Mitsuo Ohya; hereinafter "Toray") has developed a technology (hereinafter "the Technology") to arbitrarily control the pore size of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) porous fibers over a wide range from several nanometers to approximately 1,000 nm, leading to the creation of porous fibers capable of selectively adsorbing pathogenic substances of intractable diseases. This Technology contributes to proposing new blood purification treatment options that serve as alternatives to or provide synergistic effects with conventional treatments for intractable diseases such as autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer.

With the aging population and diversifying lifestyles, the number of patients with intractable diseases like autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer is increasing annually. In many cases, drug therapy or surgery alone does not provide sufficient efficacy, or challenges such as side effects and recurrence risks remain. Under these circumstances, there is an increasing demand for technologies that can highly efficiently remove large molecular weight pathogenic substances in the blood, such as autoantibodies, lipoproteins, and exosomes.

PMMA is a material with excellent biocompatibility and appropriate protein adsorption characteristics, and Toray is the only company in the industry to have commercialized PMMA porous fibers. Specifically, Toray manufactures and sells them as artificial kidneys and adsorption-type blood purifiers, with a track record of approximately 50 years in blood purification treatment applications.

By combining advanced analytical techniques such as small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) with digital technologies like phase separation simulation, Toray analyzed nano-level phase separation behavior in the spinning process of PMMA porous fibers in real-time. This led to the development of a pore size control technology capable of expanding pore diameters to a maximum of approximately 1,000 nm—about 50 times larger than before. Generally, increasing pore size makes the fiber structure sparse and reduces strength, but this Technology achieves both large pore size and high strength. Applying this Technology makes it possible to selectively adsorb and remove large molecular weight pathogenic substances that previously could not be incorporated into the pores.

Moving forward, Toray aims for early commercialization by designing pore sizes suitable for various intractable diseases, including autoimmune, cardiovascular metabolic, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer, while developing mass production technologies. Furthermore, this Technology can be applied beyond medical devices, and Toray is also promoting its expansion into biopharmaceutical manufacturing applications.

Toray will continue to embody its corporate philosophy of "Contributing to society through the creation of new value" by promoting the development of high-value-added products utilizing advanced materials technology, aiming for sustainable growth and expansion alongside social contribution.

<Reference>

1) News Release dated December 20, 2022
・Content: "Creation of Fibers that Highly Efficiently Adsorb Pathogenic Proteins in the Blood"

・Link: https://www.toray.co.jp/news/article.html?contentId=v7dxb7ht

2) News Release dated November 10, 2023

・Content: "PMMA Porous Column for Highly Efficient Adsorption of Pathogenic Proteins in the Blood Receives the 2023 Japanese Society for Artificial Organs Technical Award"

・Link: https://www.toray.co.jp/news/article.html?contentId=hxpvupms