Gas-promoted microbubbles-based drug delivery systems for the delivery of biologics in inflammatory bowel disease treatment
Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders such as IBD showed an increasing prevalence in European nations and worldwide. Although there have been numerous efforts on local and oral delivery of biologics, there is currently no existing commercially available alternative to intravenous or subcutaneous delivery of antibody/biologics. Therefore, this project aims to dig into the potential of gas-empowered drug delivery systems to develop an innovative foam-based formulation that provides an effective, and powerful enough, biologic delivery by simultaneously preserving the stability of the latter.
The research strategy proposed for the development of this project consists of firstly, fully characterizing a newly-prepared innovative foam formulation as a vehicle for a biologic in a gas-empowered drug delivery system. The characterization will be carried out in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo to obtain a full understanding of how the foam interacts with the intestinal epithelium. Secondly, we want to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of the biologic delivered via the foam formulation in IBD subjects and present it as an alternative to the current subcutaneous/intravenous available treatments. Thirdly, the final goal of this project would be to design a first-of-a-kind capsule to deliver the therapeutic foam, possibly via the oral route.