Sustained and/or controlled delivery by core-shell polymer nanocapsules

Title : Sustained and/or controlled delivery by core-shell polymer nanocapsules

Abstract:

Nanoparticles are an important tool to overcome the administration of drugs, improving the pharmacokinetics of active compounds and avoiding their undesired effects. Specifically, nanoencapsulation offers some advantages such as, protection of the active ingredient from other chemicals or biomolecules present in the final formulation, protection after administration and offers possibilities for controlled release of the different active ingredients. In this presentation, the design and synthesis of biodegradable polymeric nanocapsules for the control of drug/ active ingredient (API) release at the target organs will be described. Tailoring the physical-chemical properties of polymeric nanocapsules allows control over the release of the drug eluting systems, which can be modulated over time and/ or tunning the polymer chemical structure to control the release by external stimuli. Therefore, a set of safe and biodegradable nanocapsules have been developed, in particular core-shell nanocapsules with an average size of 350 nm. In all cases, the core consists of a polyester polymer which is at the front line of attention because of their attractive safety profile. Since their degradation products are easily metabolized by the Krebs cycle and therefore easily eliminated. The different composition of the shell will provide the desired properties, allowing different drug/ API release kinetic. These core-shell nanosystems will be presented showing their potential in the area of drug delivery systems. Furthermore, encapsulation of different APIs will further demonstrate the different release profiles in relevant biological systems.

Takeaway Notes:
•The audience should be able to see the importance of having the control over such versatile systems to improve current problems with drug pharmacokinetics.
•This work provides novel solutions for those drugs/ APIs that need to be encapsulated due to their chemical and biological properties.
Benefits:
-Drugs/ APIs which need to be incorporated to a final formulation and be stable in it
-Drugs/ APIs which are not stable in the body (chemical and/or enzymatic degradation)
-Avoid the accumulation of the drug/ API in other organs
-Controlled release kinetics
-Sustained release kinetics
-Reducing the dosage frequency
-Avoiding undesired effect of the drug/ API

Biography:

Dr. Gemma Vilar is senior researcher in the Human & Environmental Health & Safety in the R&D department of LEITAT Technological Center. She coordinates R&D projects in the nanomedicine and nanobiosensors group, focused on developing both nanoencapsulated systems as organic and inorganic nanoparticles for biomedical applications. She holds two degrees in chemistry (2005) and biochemistry (2011) from the University of Barcelona. She has done two Masters, one of them about organic chemistry (2005, University of Barcelona) and the other one about the development of polymeric nanoparticles (European Mater, 2007, University of Barcelona).

She acquired the Diploma of Advanced Studies (DEA, 2008, University of Barcelona) and completed her studies performing a PhD in nanotechnology (2011, University of Barcelona). She has undertaken several research placements in Valencia, Germany and Canada. She has participated in national and international congresses and is author or coauthor in various prestigious scientific journals.