{"id":6426,"date":"2018-01-29T08:08:29","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T00:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/new-micro-drug-delivery-system-reduces-side-effects-costs\/"},"modified":"2023-03-21T14:47:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T06:47:42","slug":"new-micro-drug-delivery-system-reduces-side-effects-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/new-micro-drug-delivery-system-reduces-side-effects-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"New micro drug delivery system reduces side effects, costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professor Neil Foster from the WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering<\/a> is developing an improved, targeted pharmaceutical drug delivery system to treat patients with colon and lung diseases, including lung cancer \u2013 the leading cause of cancer death in Australia.<\/p>\n

Known as ARISE (Atomised Rapid Injection for Solvent Extraction), the technology re-engineers active pharmaceutical ingredients into particles no bigger than a few micrometres, meaning they can be more easily absorbed into the body\u2019s bloodstream than conventional pharmaceutical drugs.<\/p>\n

Foster and his research team have already tested the delivery system\u2019s increase in efficacy on medications including insulin; fluorouracil, which treats cancer; tobramycin, which treats bacterial infections; and fosfomycin, an antibiotic.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the problems experienced by the pharmaceutical industry is the shortage of new drugs coming through the pipeline. This factor, in addition to the costs involved and the relatively short patent life, has driven pharmaceutical companies down the path of developing new delivery systems and repurposing existing drugs,\u201d Foster explains.<\/p>\n

If the research is successful, patients with colon and lung diseases \u2013 such as irritable bowel disease, colorectal cancer, tuberculosis, cystic fibrosis and lung cancer \u2013 will benefit by being prescribed lower dosages, thereby decreasing the drug burden on their bodies, related side effects and costs of treatment.<\/p>\n

It could also reduce the cost of developing and gaining market approval for a new prescription medicine, which is estimated to sit at US$2.6 billion, according to a 2014 study by US non-profit research group Tufts Centre for the Study of Drug Development.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrent treatment regimens for these disease states are inefficient, often complex and time consuming, and are associated with significant adverse side effects \u2013 all of which contribute to poor patient compliance,\u201d Foster says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the next 12 to 18 months, we\u2019re hoping to increase our production to 100g of material a day to prove to pharmaceutical companies that our methodology works on an acceptable scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does it work?<\/h2>\n
\"3D
Photo credit: Shutterstock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ARISE exploits the properties of supercritical fluids and gas expanded liquid technology.<\/p>\n

A supercritical fluid refers to a substance where both its pressure and temperature are above critical values, giving it the properties of both a gas and a liquid. The gas-like properties enable it to penetrate into a product and the liquid-like properties enable it to dissolve materials within, allowing for easy extraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing decaffeinated coffee as an example, the supercritical fluid is able to penetrate into the bean because of its gas-like properties. Its liquid-like properties enable the supercritical fluid to dissolve the caffeine. The gas-like properties then take over again, leaving the coffee bean and taking the caffeine with it,\u201d Foster notes.<\/p>\n

However, as most pharmaceuticals cannot dissolve in supercritical fluids such as supercritical fluid carbon dioxide (CO2<\/sub>), there\u2019s an extra step involved where the pharmaceuticals are dissolved in a solvent such as ethanol before the supercritical fluid is added to the mix.<\/p>\n

Foster explains: \u201cAs the CO2<\/sub> is added, the solution physically expands. As the solution expands, the density, and therefore dissolving power, decreases. At a certain degree of expansion, the solution no longer has sufficient dissolving power to hold onto the pharmaceutical. What we then see is spontaneous crystallisation of the pharmaceutical out of the expanded solution: a gas expanded solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pharmaceutical has very small particle size, typically five micrometres and less, down to 50 nanometres, which is good for increasing solubility of the drug in the bloodstream. And the distribution of particle sizes is very narrow, which is better to predict the onset of the therapeutic effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

About Professor Neil Foster<\/h2>\n

Professor Neil Foster<\/a> has spent the last 20 years researching, developing and commercialising innovative pharmaceutical drug delivery systems, both at Curtin and at his previous role as a chemical engineering professor at The University of New South Wales (UNSW). While at UNSW, he founded two companies \u2013 Eiffel Technologies (now known as Telesso Technologies) and BioParticle Technologies \u2013 to commercialise his research.<\/p>\n

Foster is an internationally recognised expert in the fields of supercritical fluids and dense gas technology. In the mid-1990s, Foster and his colleague, Dr Angela Dillow from the University of Minnesota, approached MIT Professor Robert Langer<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s leading biomedical engineers, to develop a chemical agent out of supercritical fluid CO2<\/sub> that can act as both a cleaning and sterilising agent. Since then, the technology has been licensed to a specialist development company, NovaSterilis<\/a>, which has further developed the technology for sterilising transplanted human tissue, sensitive medical devices and other biomedical materials. Foster and Langer continue to work in collaboration to this day.<\/p>\n

Foster\u2019s contributions to his fields have been widely recognised:<\/p>\n