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Nanotechnology for CNS delivery of biological therapeutics

Published on May 4, 2015   52 min

A selection of talks on Biochemistry

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0:00
Welcome to the seminar on "Nanotechnology for CNS Delivery of Biological Therapeutics." My name is Mansoor Amiji. I'm a Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the School of Pharmacy at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. I'm also the director of the laboratory of Biomaterials and Advanced Nano-Delivery Systems here at Northeastern University.
0:24
The diseases of the central nervous system, or CNS, currently represent 11% of the global disease burden. This number will increase to 14% in the year 2020, largely due to the aging demographics, both here in the United States and around the world. CNS diseases are especially devastating, as they are predominant in older adults with other morbidities. In neurodegenerative disease, for example, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, lack of early diagnosis and current treatment strategies that are purely symptomatic are also additional challenges. A piece published in 2010 in Science, showed that CNS drug development takes a long time for approval, has poor success rate, and costs more than any other diseases. As such, currently there are very few major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies having a program in CNS drug development. Biological therapies based on peptides, proteins, nucleic acid, and even cells have shown tremendous benefit in the pre-clinical evaluation for a variety of CNS diseases, especially neurodegenerative diseases. Many of these agents have disease modifying effects, rather than just providing symptomatic treatment. However, delivery of therapeutic agents, especially biologicals that are highly hydrophilic, large molecular weight, sometimes charged, and labile molecules to the brain, especially upon administration through the bloodstream, is impossible.

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Nanotechnology for CNS delivery of biological therapeutics

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