Gone are the days when the pharmacist dispensed small molecule drugs as simple tablets or capsules. While many medicines are still formulated this way – and for good reason as they are easy to take and well accepted by patients – many modern biotech-derived medicines simply cannot be transformed into a standard pill. Even many of the small molecules that are being developed today are challenging to formulate because of poor solubility. As a result, a whole sector of the biotech industry has sprung up to create innovative technologies that enable these drugs to be successfully delivered to patients.
Many of these are based on some form of nano particle. For example, scientists at Arrowhead Research in Madison, WI, US, are developing a delivery system that allows siRNA drugs to be delivered via a path similar to that taken by viruses that are looking to find target cells into which they can inject DNA material. The company’s Dynamic Polyconjugates (DPCs) are small nano particles, typically 5–20nm in size, which are made from an amphipathic polymer, and the siRNA is contained within them. Shielding agents such as polyethylene glycol are attached to these nano particles, along with ligands that target the nano particle to the correct cells.
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