Our Technology | Exploiting Transporters | Enhancing Oral Bioavailability

XenoPort's proprietary Transported Prodrug™ technology utilizes the body's natural mechanisms for actively transporting nutrients through cellular barriers. In the early stage of our development, our scientists identified specific, high-capacity nutrient transporter proteins found in cells that line the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Using this information, they chemically modify the structure of suboptimal drugs to create a Transported Prodrug that utilizes these transporters to gain efficient absorption into the bloodstream through active transport. Once in the blood stream, our Transported Prodrugs are engineered to split apart, releasing the drug and natural substances that generally have well-studied, favorable safety characteristics.

XenoPort's Transported Prodrug approach differs from the more conventional approach to drug absorption that typically relies on a drug's ability to passively diffuse through the intestinal wall to enter the bloodstream and reach the targeted tissue.