Drug delivery

PEG-based hydrogel microspheres that release peptide drugs continuously over several weeks could help treat Type II diabetes and other chronic diseases with once-monthly dosing. The microspheres are linked to peptide therapeutics via a carbamate group modified to slow the rate of the reaction that cleaves the linker to release to therapeutic agent. In rats, a version of the microspheres loaded with a stabilized analog of exenatide had a serum half-life of 37 days, whereas free exenatide had a serum half-life in rats of 50 minutes. In a rat model of Type II diabetes, the exenatide analog-loaded microspheres decreased blood glucose levels and hemoglobin A1c levels, and increased insulin secretion comparably to continuously infused exenatide. Next steps by ProLynx LLC include manufacturing a GLP-compliant version of the microspheres.

The generic glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R; GLP1R) agonist exenatide is marketed for Type II diabetes...