The drug delivery system offers controlled release using self-cleaving linkers to attach the drug to hydrogel microsphere carriers
Telos 2 Reagent Chips from Dolomite Microfluidics have helped San Francisco-based ProLynx to develop a novel drug delivery platform. Jeff Henise, Director of Process Development, ProLynx, explained, “Traditional polymer encapsulation delivery systems rely on diffusion or breakdown of the polymer to release their payload. In contrast, our drug delivery system offers controlled release using self-cleaving linkers to attach the drug to hydrogel microsphere carriers. Drug release and subsequent gel degradation depend only on the cleavage rate of the linker, and are tunable across a wide range. A key part of our manufacturing process is the production of the hydrogel as microspheres, which is carried out using Telos 2 Reagent Chips.”
Henise further added, “To produce microspheres of the correct size, we use a microfluidics approach and a custom-made Telos chip with a 50 micrometer channel. This chip is robust, with excellent chemical compatibility, and offers a high throughput for its size. Although there are other ways of making emulsions, microfluidics offers better control of particle size and a high yield of monodisperse emulsion. As the resulting material does not need to be screened to remove incorrectly-sized particles, this minimises waste and increases yield by as much as 30 per cent.”