Alginate - Drug Delivery System
DOMAIN The mucosal surfaces of the body (such as GI tract, respiratory tract, eye, and genitourinary tract) constitute the major target for drug and gene delivery. As such, mucous secretions can have a significant influence on drug/gene complex uptake. These effects of mucus are usually more pronounced for larger drugs, such as protein molecules, particulates and colloidal systems, and for gene delivery complexes.DESCRIPTION In order to penetrate the mucus barrier, drug formulations may be modified to include other compounds that may alter diffusion coefficients, interactions between the drug and the macromolecular components of mucus, mucus gel structure or retention at the mucosal surface.
NTNU researchers have developed highly defined and specialized bioactive alginates that may have potential in the field of drug delivery as they are able to decrease the density of non-mucin cross links in the mucus gel potentially altering the pore size but without compromising the physiological properties of mucus. The specialized bioactive alginates are also able to disrupt charge-charge interactions between mucins and other components, e.g. drug molecules that can reduce the rate of drug transfer. In addition, the specialized alginates are non-immunogenic and would not be expected to stimulate excess mucus secretion. The specialized alginate may also be of some benefit in assisting drug transport across the mucin rich glycocalyx. This may be of particular interest in cancer chemotherapy as a number of tumour types have up-regulated expression of glycocalyx.
UNIQUE SELLING POINTS
• Effective drug delivery system for mucosal surfaces
• Non-immunogenic
• Ultra pure production technology
• Well-characterized agent
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
• Drug Delivery System for GI tract, respiratory tract, eye, and genitourinary tract
• Drug Delivery System in cancer chemotherapy
STATE OF DEVELOPMENT
• Ongoing experimental studies
Inventor(s): Kurt I Draget, Catherine Taylor, Olav Smidsrød
Type of Offer: Licensing
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