Nastech says new data demonstrates four new lipids that may enhance drug delivery

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Dec. 14 - Nastech Pharmaceutical Co. Inc. said Wednesday that new data from its transmucosal peptide and protein drug-delivery program demonstrates the potential for four new classes of lipids to enhance transmucosal delivery of peptides and proteins.

The purpose of this program is to further advance the development of non-injectable methods for administering large molecule therapeutics that would otherwise require patient injections.

Among seven groups of lipids tested, including sterols, sphingolipids, ceramides, glycosylated sphingosines, alkylglucosides, oxidized lipids and ether lipids, the latter four were identified as tight junction modulators, according to a company news release.

Alkylglucosides, however, showed very high cytotoxicity and low cell viability at concentrations reported to enhance transmucosal absorption when compared to the other three lipid classes and a recently identified tight junction modulating peptide, officials said.

Lipids that rapidly and reversibly alter tight junction permeability, an important factor in regulating paracellular drug transport, were identified using the company's proprietary high-throughput tissue screening model. These lipids were shown to significantly enhance peptide permeation through epithelial tissue, officials said.

Nastech said it believes that the finding that oxidized lipids activate tight junctions may help solve mechanistic questions about the origin of atherosclerosis.

It has been shown that oxidized lipids in the vascular system initiate a cascade of responses culminating in an inflammatory response that leads to the development of atherosclerosis.

Nastech said it believes that its original research demonstrates an interaction between oxidized lipids and tight junctions of cells, raising the prospect for a new therapeutic approach to cardiovascular disease.

The company said it has previously demonstrated the ability to significantly enhance transmucosal drug delivery of large molecule therapeutics using small molecules and peptides as delivery agents.

The lipids identified in this study may represent a new class of molecules that have the potential to improve the delivery of these types of therapeutics, officials said.

These data were presented at the American Society for Cell Biology annual meeting in San Francisco.

Nastech is a Bothell, Wash., pharmaceutical company developing innovative products based on proprietary molecular biology-based drug delivery technologies.

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