Targeted Delivery For The Treatment Of Lung Cancer

Pulmonary drug delivery is anticipated to have a significant impact on the treatment and management of lung cancer. This is particularly important as lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, killing more people each year than breast, prostate, colon, liver, melanoma and kidney cancers combined. This disparity was highlighted by the U.S. Senate’s action on May 2nd declaring lung cancer a national public health priority calling for inter-agency attack on the number one cancer killer. Standard delivery modalities of i.v. infusion result in multiple side effects, and poor targeting of the drug. Aerosol delivery of therapeutic agents has the potential of localizing the drugs specifically to the lung tissue, with superior pharmacokinetic profiles. However, inhaled chemotherapeutic formulations face difficult drug delivery challenges due to high lipophilicity and dose limitations. We have overcome these obstacles by developing a platform approach to inhaled chemotherapy design. Scientific tools such as defined pre-formulation studies, formulation development, in vitro lung deposition model, in vitro models of lung cancer, and in vivo testing allow us to take therapeutic entities and evaluate them rapidly for their suitability for direct lung delivery. Collaborators: Dr. Claire Verschraegen, MD., Dr. Dennie Jones, MD, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute.

Particles for Cystic Fibrosis

The lack of drug delivery innovation applied to therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) is truly surprising given the level of investigation and understanding of the barriers to treatment. Critical improvements can be attained in CF therapy by overcoming these barriers. Drug delivery is a translational science enabling the successful administration of therapeutics using knowledge of pharmaceutical materials science and biological aspects of disease. Some drug delivery technologies have already yielded benefits to current therapy (i.e. inhalation aerosols) but great deficiencies remain. This project focuses on the development of particles that have ability to penetrate through thick cystic fibrosis mucus while protecting the drug from extensive degradation. These studies, initiating a long term goal of applying drug delivery approaches to CF, will enable collaborations with researchers in basic and clinical research in CF and provide preliminary data to support larger in vivo performance studies. Collaborators: Vojo Deretic, Ph.D., UNM, Elizabeth Perkett, MD, UNM, Amit Pai, PharmD, UNM.

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Sustained Release Pulmonary Drug Delivery

We have developed novel particles that have regional lung targeting ability and avoid clearance mechanisms of the airways. These particles can control the release of a range of therapeutic compounds in the lung improving pharmacokinetic profiles and enhancing patient compliance. Collaborator: Dr. Uday Kompella, UNMC.

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Development of a Novel Dry Powder Inhaler and Powder Dispersion Mechanism

In collaboration with Professor Randal Truman, Ph.D.  in Mechanical Engineering we have developed a novel dry powder inhaler system that bridges passive (patient driven) and active (device driven) systems. Please see the UNM Science and Technology Corporation for more details.

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Control of Spray Systems

In collaboration with Dr Sorin Mitran in Applied Mathematics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, we have developed technology that can modulate droplet sizes after the droplets have been formed. This technology, in the prototype stage, is useful in improving droplet size distributions for multiple applications included inhalation aerosols. Please see the Office of Technology Development, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for more details.

Powder Performance

Powders are ubiquitous in the pharmaceutical industry yet their behavior is still poorly understood. The ability to predict and control powder performance is therefore a greatly desirable goal. Using novel methods developed in our lab, we have demonstrated that the performance of binary mixtures (such as commonly found in dry powder inhalers) can be predicted using simple blending studies. We seek to probe the macroscopic through microscopic behavior of powders to yield an improved understanding of the complexity of powder flow, fluidization, and dispersion.