Robust, Stable, and “Smart” Microstructure Drug Delivery for Controlled Release
Overview
Effective “smart” fiber drug delivery systems must be multi-functional and provide both physical and pharmaceutical support. Our invention prepares and uses a multi-layer polymeric microstructure “smart” delivery system for controlled release of therapeutics.
Market Opportunity
Drug-eluting fibers can be woven into biotextiles for the release of numerous therapeutics with micron-scale accuracy; but only a small subset of polymer fibers is suitable for drug encapsulation. A common problem is rapid drug “burst.” There is an urgent need for microencapsulation and phase-separation techniques that slow the release of therapeutics from wet-spun microfiber-based drug delivery systems.
Innovation and Meaningful Advantages
Therapeutic delivery performance with our method is significantly better than with current bolus delivery strategies. The stable delivery system can be physically manipulated and easily shaped, and it delivers controlled release of therapeutics while maintaining mechanical strength. Our invention can be used with multiple types of drugs/agents (protein, small molecule, hydrophobic/philic) and administered by various routes (oral, transdermal, etc.) and in any formulation with conventional pharmaceutical excipients.
Our use of wet spinning to produce such polymer fibers has many advantages: it can be done at ambient temperatures, can be used with water-soluble drugs and a broad range of bioactive agents, and is most similar to microsphere encapsulation techniques. Wet-spun fibers also have a high surface area-to-volume ratio for mass transfer and efficient drug release. Other potential applications include production of surgical sutures, dialysis devices, therapeutic implants, wound dressings, and tissue engineering scaffolds for regenerative medicine.
Collaboration Opportunity
We are interested in exploring 1) startup opportunities with investors in the drug delivery space; 2) research collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies to develop this method of drug delivery; and 3) licensing opportunities for drug delivery companies.
Principal Investigator
Edith Mathiowitz, PhD
Professor of Medical Science
Professor of Engineering
Brown University
Brown Tech ID #2035
edith_mathiowitz@brown.edu
https://vivo.brown.edu/display/emathiow
IP Information
2016-01-19; US9238011; published.
Publication
Azagury A, Fonseca VC, Cho DY, Perez-Rogers J, Baker CM, Steranka E, Goldenshtein V, Calvao D, Darling EM, Mathiowitz E. Single Step Double-walled Nanoencapsulation (SSDN). Journal of Controlled Release. 2018 June 08;280;11-19. doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2018.04.048.