Speaker:
Title:
Charge Optimized Nanocarriers Provide Targeted, Sustained Delivery of Drugs to Cartilage
Abstract:
Treatment of osteoarthritis is hindered by poor drug delivery to cartilage, even when drugs are directly injected into the affected joint. Here, I describe a nanocarrier-drug conjugate system selected for optimal charge to bind and penetrate cartilage, resulting in a 10x improvement in rat joint residence time versus the free drug. The improved drug delivery provided by this system resulted in significantly reduced bone and cartilage degeneration in a rat surgical model of osteoarthritis relative to untreated rats.