Drug Delivery News and Research

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Drug delivery is a term that refers to the delivery of a pharmaceutical compound into the body. Most common methods of delivery include the preferred non-invasive oral (through the mouth), nasal, pneumonial (inhalation), and rectal routes. Much research is now focussing on nanotechnology as a drug delivery method.

Nanoparticle delivers antisense agent to tumors

A multifunctional drug delivery system consisting of a lipid-based nanoparticle, a standard anticancer drug, and a short nucleic acid designed to augment the activity of that drug has demonstrated the ability to treat drug-resistant tumor cells.

15 Jun 2008

Coated gold nanoparticles for drug delivery

In work that could at the same time impact the delivery of drugs and explain a biological mystery, MIT engineers have created the first synthetic nanoparticles that can penetrate a cell without poking a hole in its protective membrane and killing it.

11 Jun 2008

Dendrimers improve imaging with magnetic nanoparticles

Dendrimers are spherical polymer nanoparticles that have shown promise as targeted anticancer drug delivery vehicles. Iron oxide nanoparticles have already demonstrated the ability to image tumors and metastatic lesions.

20 May 2008

Multifunctional nanoparticles image, target, and treat tumors

Encapsulating magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles within a silica shell has yielded a new multifunctional nanoparticle that has the potential to image, target, and treat tumors with water-insoluble anticancer drugs. A report of this work appears in the journal ACS Nano.

20 May 2008

3M Drug Delivery System collaborates on vaccine adjuvants

3M Drug Delivery Systems announces the signing of a non-exclusive license agreement with the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) in support of vaccine research for humanitarian efforts in developing countries. Under the agreement, 3M will donate its patented toll-like receptor (TLR) immune response modifier compounds.

1 May 2008

MacroChem acquires Virium Pharmaceuticals

MacroChem Corporation announced today that on April 18, 2008 it acquired Virium Pharmaceuticals Inc., a non-public, development stage company developing and commercializing novel therapeutics, with a portfolio of clinical stage product candidates focused in oncology, including its next generation nucleoside analogue licensed from the Southern Research Institute.

23 Apr 2008

Fluorine-based nanoparticles on track to improve cancer detection and therapy

Perfluorocarbons, a class of inert, oily polymers, have a proven track record in a variety of clinical uses, including in contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging and in eye surgery to correct a detached retina.

18 Apr 2008

Protein-cross-linked polymeric materials through site-selective bioconjugation

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley (USA) have now developed a new strategy for the formation of hybrid materials from synthetic polymers and proteins. They have thus been able to fuse the specific biological functions of proteins with the advantageous bulk and processing properties of plastics.

18 Apr 2008

Exercise leads to significantly greater tumor growth in mouse model

Prostate tumors grew more quickly in mice who exercised than in those who did not, leading to speculation that exercise may increase blood flow to tumors, according to a new study by researchers in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center (DCCC) and the Duke Prostate Center.

13 Apr 2008

Light-powered nanomachine kills cancer cells

Researchers from the Nano Machine Center at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA have developed a novel type of nanomachine that can capture and store anticancer drugs inside tiny pores and release them into cancer cells in response to light.

2 Apr 2008

Disappointing resuts for pimecrolimus, investigational anti-restenosis drug

A new medication that researchers had hoped would reduce the risk of arterial renarrowing after stenting has turned in a disappointing performance in a multicenter clinical trial, but the multi-reservoir stent that was used to deliver the drug is still considered promising.

1 Apr 2008

Next-generation nanomedicine

In an article featured on the cover of the March issue of Nature Nanotechnology, Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, presented a proof-of-concept study on a new multistage delivery system (MDS) for imaging and therapeutic applications. This discovery could go a long way toward making injectable drugs more effective.

27 Mar 2008

Researchers discover how stealthy HIV protein gets into cells

Scientists have known for more than a decade that a protein associated with the HIV virus is good at crossing cell membranes, but they didn't know how it worked.

18 Mar 2008

Nanotechnology advances brain cancer detection and therapy

Brain cancer is one of the most aggressive and lethal of malignancies, made even more difficult to treat by the fact that most anticancer drugs have a hard time even getting to the tumors.

3 Mar 2008

Drug delivery straight to the brain

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth have won nearly half a million pounds to try and develop a way of allowing drugs to be delivered straight to the brain.

14 Feb 2008

Porous structures help boost integration of host tissue with implants

Results published in FASEB (the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) by researchers at Columbia University, including Jeremy Mao of the Columbia College of Dental Medicine, demonstrate a novel way of using porous structures as a drug-delivery vehicle that can help boost the integration of host tissue with surgically implanted titanium.

4 Feb 2008

Scientists use nanoscale polymer films to control drug delivery

Using nanotechnology, scientists from UCLA and Northwestern University have developed a localized and controlled drug delivery method that is invisible to the immune system, a discovery that could provide newer and more effective treatments for cancer and other diseases.

23 Jan 2008

Potential new treatment for inflammatory bowel disease

Irish scientists have discovered a new potential therapeutic approach to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), a chronic debilitating disease involving inflammation of the intestine which affects more than 15,000 people in Ireland and millions of people worldwide.

15 Jan 2008

Freeze-dried tendon grafts loaded with gene therapy may provide repair injured tendons

According to study data published today in the journal Molecular Therapy, a new graft technique may provide the first effective framework around which flexor tendon tissue can reorganize as it heals.

9 Jan 2008