HYBRID EVENT: You can participate in person at Rome, Italy or Virtually from your home or work.
Speaker at Drug Delivery Events - Gillian Hutcheon
Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom
Title : Peptide Delivery to the brain: A novel treatment for migraine

Abstract:

Migraine is an extremely common, disabling condition which ruins the lives of millions of patients worldwide and is hard to treat effectively. Existing migraine medications are only partially effective, they have unwanted side effects and some patients are resistant to any current treatment. 
CGRP is an abundant neuropeptide, consisting of 37 amino acids that plays key roles in cardiovascular homeostasis and nociception and is recognised as an important mediator of neurogenic inflammation and a very likely key contributor to migraine pathology. GPCRs in general have proved to be prime targets for drug discovery, and selective CGRP antagonists with clinical efficacy against migraine have now been produced. Our approach has been to design small 8-10 amino acid peptide antagonists of the CGRP receptor.

Peptides are naturally occurring biologics and, hence, tend to be safer than synthetic drugs and less immunogenic than proteins and antibodies. However, it is challenging to effectively deliver peptides via the oral route due to the harsh stomach environment that results in degradation. By comparison, the nasal route offers several advantages for both local and systemic delivery such as; a large surface area, a thin epithelium, dense vasculature, less enzymatic activity and is non-invasive. For delivery to the brain, the nasal route offers the possibility of adsorption via the nasal mucosa or direct delivery via the olfactory nerve. We have utilized design of experiment to prepare peptide loaded; Poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), poly(glycerol adipate-co-ω-pentadecalactone), PGA-co-PDL and various chitosans nanoparticles (NPs).  Mucoadhesive microparticles containing either peptide or peptide loaded NPS were prepared by spray drying from chitosans. 

The small peptide antagonists that we have developed to date have demonstrated high potency in in vitro pharmacological testing and further pre-clinical development is now underway. 

Biography:

Gillian Hutcheon graduated from Strathclyde University, Scotland in 1996 with a PhD thesis on Biocatalysts is non-aqueous media. She then undertook postdoctoral research at Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham investigating Protein: Biomaterial interactions. She joined Liverpool John Moores University in 1999 as a lecturer in Organic Chemistry and leads the Formulation and Drug Delivery Research Group. She has evolved her interest in proteins and biomaterials towards drug delivery applications looking at the enzyme catalysed synthesis of novel materials for micro and nanoparticle delivery of small molecule drugs and biomolecules. In 2008 she was conferred as a Reader in Biomaterials and she is currently Head of the LJMU Institute for Health Research.

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