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A range of inflammatory illnesses could be treated by a family of biodegradable polymers which work to quickly deliver drugs and proteins to diseased areas of the body.
Research by experts at Georgia Tech and Emory University in the US found that these polymers, called polyketals, may improve treatment for illnesses such as acute lung injury, acute liver failure and inflammatory bowel disease.
“The polyketal microparticles we developed are simply a vehicle to get the drugs inside the body to the diseased area as quickly as possible,” said Niren Murthy, assistant professor in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.
“The major advantage to using these polyketals to deliver drugs is that they degrade into biocompatible compounds that don’t accumulate in a patient’s tissue or cause additional inflammation.”
The researchers are now working with Didier Merlin, a professor in the Division of Digestive Diseases at Emory University, to investigate whether the polyketals could be loaded with therapeutics to treat inflammatory bowel disease.
“We think these microparticles are going to be fantastic for oral drug delivery because they can survive the stomach conditions before they release their contents in the intestines,” Murthy added.
Copyright PA Business 2008
