Scientists make drug delivery smooth as silk
pharmafile | January 10, 2012 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â Silk, manufacturing, microneedlesÂ
Researchers in the US have developed a new drug delivery system based on silk, which could allow drugs and vaccines currently delivered by injection to be given via a transdermal patch.
The team from Tufts University School of Engineering have developed biodegradable microneedles – based on a protein in silk called fibroin – which can deliver a wide range of biochemical compounds and can be stored without the need for refrigeration.
Microneedles have been in development for some time as a way to deliver drugs across the skin painlessly and without the need for injections, as they penetrate the stratum corneum barrier without stimulating nerves. Their development has however been hampered by a lack of good biomaterials, an inability to control drug release and challenging production methods.
There have also been issues with local infections with metal based systems, while some polymer-based materials used for microneedles are limited in terms of the amount of drug material they can deliver, say the researchers, whose work is published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
In contrast, fibroin microneedles can be made with relative ease at normal temperature and pressure, which allows sensitive drugs such as antibiotics and enzymes to be delivered via the technology. Furthermore, the rate of drug release can be fine-tuned by adjusting the processing and drying of the silk protein.
“We were able to precisely control the drug release rates in laboratory experiments,” said lead author Fiorenzo Omenetto.
Silk microneedles loaded with tetracycline have been shown to inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, demonstrating the potential of the microneedles to prevent local infections while also delivering therapeutics.
“The new system addresses long-standing drug delivery challenges, and we believe that the technology could also be applied to other biological storage applications,” said Omenetto.
Other microneedle-based products have already reach clinical development, including Radius Health’s microneedle patch formulation of BA058 (parathyroid hormone-related protein), which is scheduled to enter Phase II testing shortly as a treatment for osteoporosis.
Phil Taylor
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