Four Smart Drug Delivery Systems: Nanotech, Wireless, and Decidedly Space Age

Four Smart Drug Delivery Systems: Nanotech, Wireless, and Decidedly Space Age

Submitted byHeather ThompsononFri, 2014-04-25 21:34

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Stratos is pleased to bring you exclusive, on-going content by Heather Thompson, former editor in chief of MD+DI magazine. With 10 years of experience covering medical technologies and FDA regulations, Heather specializes in delivering the latest trends and news in the medical device industry.

by Heather Thompson, freelance writer

The methods for delivering drugs to targeted locations are becoming, well, smarter, to steal a well-worn catch phrase. But these technologies represent more than “smart” as it might apply to your cell phone or your car. These are life changing… actually world-changing technologies. With the ability to deliver drugs transdermally comes the ability to treat patients who would never get access to a vaccine. Likewise, if cancer drugs can be delivered to the cancer site—and only to the cancer site—it can avoid ravaging healthy cells, thereby keeping the patient healthier and better able to tolerate treatment. The methods being explored to get these technologies on the market are fascinating. They involve space exploration, wireless advances, and the latest in nanotechnology.

Wearable Patches for Large and Small Molecule Delivery

Certain drugs that are now delivered via needle could be much improved through transdermal technologies. Corium, the Menlo Park, CA-based firm, has developed MicroCor needle-free large molecule system to deliver proteins, peptides and vaccines. It also has Corplex “steady state” small molecule system used for tooth whitening and other types of drugs that might otherwise be difficult to formulate and deliver. The company recently announced its intentions toraise $66 million through initial public offerings. The IPO will fund additional research to develop both patches.

Vaccine delivery through a patch is particularly interesting for its possible global applications. A patch would be considerably easier to travel with, and it would eliminate the need to pierce the skin. In countries where blood-borne diseases are prevalent, caregivers would experience less risk of exposure than needle injections.

Nanopatches Patches with Wireless Technology

In addition, there is a potential that such patches could become even more valuable by adding smart technology. Researchers from Seoul National University, in South Korea have been exploring the potential ofa 2-inch-long rectangle made of stretchable nanomaterials. The patch is made with heat-activated silica nanoparticles that monitor muscle activity and body temperature. The patch releases therapeutics based on the biofeedback. For example, the patches could be used to help Parkinson’s patients, because the tremors for the disease would be perceptible by the nanoparticles. The researchers estimate the patch won’t be ready for the market for at least five more years, and their next step is to integrate wireless connectivity. Such wearable patches could significantly improve therapy compliance.

Multilayered Microcapsules

Getting to the site of an illness for targeted drug delivery is still a significant challenge. Drugs that treat cancer carry a high health cost can leave a patient physically weaker than before the treatment. Targeted delivery means a patient that stays healthier and in a better position to fight the disease.

Researchers from NASA are building microcapsules that could enhance such targeted drug delivery. Incidentally, this is where I get on my soapbox about the need for a robust space program. Most technologies we enjoy and even take for granted wouldn’t be possible without experiments conducted in space. These are wide-reaching applications that go beyond pure science. Ok, rant over, and onto the cool technology stuff.

The microcapsules are based on experiments conducted on the International Space Station, which takes advantage of the microgravity environment. Researchers can more effectively producetiny, liquid-filled, biodegradable microballoons containing specific combinations of concentrated anti-tumor drugs. The Microencapsulation electrostatic processing system-II (MEPS-II) study couldn’t be conducted on earth because the liquids with differing densities would layer, explained vice president and director for microencapsulation research at NuVue Theraputics, Dennis Morrison. NuVue has had exclusive license for medical use of the MEPS technology since 2003, and is currently exploring the technology’s use in marking the actual tissue biopsy site, post acquisition, of an acquired tissue sample through the use of NuVue's ultrasound directed minimally invasive devices. NuVue is also developing the microcapsules for use in site-specific delivery of microencapsulated therapies directly into breast, liver, pancreatic, and other hard-to-treat cancers.Preclinical trials are currently being set upat Texas A&M University School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Drug-Releasing Battery

A biodegradable battery could serve as an effective drug delivery system for the treatment of medical problems, such as epileptic seizures. Researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign are working on a device that uses magnesium foil as its anode, with a cathode made from iron, molybdenum, or tungsten. The entire system is encased in polyanhydride.

The battery would be implanted and the therapeutic would be released via radio signals. Power delivered depends on the size of the battery and the metals used. For example, the story aboutthis dissolving batteryin Nature estimates that “a one-square-centimeter cell with a 50-micrometer-thick magnesium anode and an 8-micrometer-thick molybdenum cathode produces a steady 2.4 milliamps of current.”
However, the authors of the study estimate that a 0.25 cm2 and 1μm thick could power implantable wireless sensors.