Inhalation Sciences chosen for major EU Antimicrobial Peptide research project
New infectious bacterial diseases highly resistant to traditional antibiotics are a major threat to today’s healthcare systems. Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) could be a solution. Inhalation Sciences’ in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo research technology has been chosen to take part in a new project, co-funded by the EU, which will research ways of using nanotechnology to formulate and deliver AMPS as a therapy.
Dr. Per Gerde CSO, Inhalation Sciences’ founder: “No other in vitro- or in vivo system in the world can collect the quality and detail of data that Inhalation Sciences’ system can.”
In the future could your child inhale from an aerosol to administer nano- formulations of antimicrobial peptides to treat an infectious bacterial disease?
This is just one of the exciting technologies that the new FORMAMP research project, co-funded by the EU, will start to explore. FORMAMP will use nanotechnology to formulate and administer potential new Antimicrobial peptide therapies. Inhalation Sciences’ world-class, innovative in vivo and in vitro inhalation research technology will be vital to this potentially groundbreaking, life-saving research.
Dr Per Gerde CSO, Inhalation Sciences’ founder and the developer of its next generation aerosol and inhalation drug development technology:
“I believe inhalation technology has an important role to play in peptide research and therapies,” he says. “And no other in vitro- or in vivo system in the world can collect the quality and detail of data that Inhalation Sciences’ IPL system can. This is a very good project for us. We will be able to provide the required inhalation technology entirely from our in-house methods. I think we are one of the few companies in the world who can deliver the quality of data needed here. We are pleased to contribute to this important cross-disciplinary project.”
Why are AMPS so potentially important?
New infectious, bacterial diseases that are highly resistant to traditional antibiotics are one of the major threats to our healthcare system today. Some scientists believe that within just one generation these new forms of highly resistant, infectious bacterial diseases could take the state of medical care back to the pre-antibiotic era, with treatments potentially as effective as they were at the beginning of the last century.
FORMAMP: Innovative Nanoformulation of Antimicrobial Peptides to Treat Bacterial Infectious Diseases
The threat is serious enough to have attracted EU funding and investment in possible solutions. A major research project from SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden is now exploring how new, more efficient medical platforms can be developed to administer Antimicrobial peptides (AMPS.)
Less likely to induce resistance, AMPS have huge potential as a new therapy against infectious bacterial diseases because of the rapid, non-specific way they behave.
FORMAMP will research and explore new ways of formulating and delivering AMPS using nanotechnology. Nanotechnology could significantly improve the efficiency and stability of AMPs in clinical development. Nanoformulation platforms that the study will research and which are particularly promising for peptide delivery include lipid-based systems and polymer-based structures for use in both topical sprays and pulmonary aerosols.
Pulmonary aerosols
The project will evaluate the possibility of formulating the nanostructure materials into efficient drug delivery systems such as a topical spray or gel and a pulmonary aerosol. In the project the functional delivery systems will be applied directly onto lung infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB).
In vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models from Inhalation Sciences
The effects of the nanoformulated AMPs will be evaluated using Inhalation Sciences’ state-of-the-art in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models, important parts of the suite of systems that makes up the company’s next generation of aerosol research technology for early stage inhalation drug development.
Ex vivo: Inhalation Sciences’ IPL, isolated perfused and ventilated lung
No other in vitro- or in vivo system in the world can collect the quality and detail of data that Inhalation Sciences’ IPL system can.
’“IPL makes it possible to obtain extremely detailed, high-resolution lung-specific pharmacokinetic data,” says Dr Gerde. “Of course the ex vivo isolated perfused and ventilated lung (IPL) is a well?established experimental model extensively used for toxicological and pharmacological studies. But in our tailored IPL system the test substance is administered as a real inhalation aerosol and the perfusate is collected throughout the experiment using a custom?made fraction collector, which allows monitoring lung absorption and perfusate flow rate in great detail; it can also be converted to a recirculation mode, which means you can detect accumulating substance or its metabolites in a smaller perfusate volume.”
IPL Key benefits:
- Characterization of lung absorption and retention in detail (up to 2h sample collection)
- <10% standard deviation in dosing.
- Total mass balance control, no losses
Read more about IPL here:
http://inhalation.se/explore-our-platform/isolated-perfused-lung-ex-vivo-module/
