Nanotechnology Could Revive Old Drugs
New research suggests that nanotechnology could give a “second chance” to drugs that had previously been abandoned.
Researchers at the Children’s Hospital Boston have been investigating an angiogenesis inhibitor drug called TNP-470. Clinical trials in the 1990s found that TNP-470 “suppressed a surprisingly wide range of cancers, including metastatic cancers, and produced a few complete remissions”. However the drug was abandoned because of the neurological side-effects.
Using nanotehnology the researchers have produced a novel, slow-release version of the drug which is called Lodamin. In trials with mice, Lodamin “appears to retain TNP-470’s potency and broad spectrum of activity, but with no detectable neurotoxicity and greatly enhanced oral availability”.
Lodamin essentially takes TNP-470 and surrounds it with nanoparticle polymer strands. These hold the TNP-470 in and protect it from stomach acid until the Lodamin reaches the tumour and water breaks down the polymer strands.
It’s still early days yet - the new version of Lodamin has only been tested on mice. However if the technique turns out to be generally applicable then the future could see a greater choice of medication as older drugs have their side-effects removed.
The research was published in Nature Biotechnology and is dedicated to the memory of senior author Judah Folkman who died unexpectedly in January this year.
Picture Credit: Kristin Johnson
