Nanoenabled Peptide Pills - Unlocking the Potential of Therapeutic Peptides

肽是自然界的“药物”，其生物利用度低，限制了其治疗应用。分子包膜技术（MET）递送平台允许它们用作纳米使能的“肽丸”。由药物输送科学家、神经科学家、物理学家、化学工程师和临床医生组成的多学科“肽丸”联盟将开发疼痛肽丸METDoloron。据估计，20%的欧洲成年人患有慢性疼痛，阿片类药物通常无法充分控制。此外，阿片类药物有时会导致危及生命的副作用。METDoloron通过使用内源性肽衍生物靶向目前使用的阿片类药物的不同受体来避免这些问题，因此预计将对大型（500亿美元），分散和不断增长的全球疼痛治疗市场产生重大影响。项目合作伙伴将确认METDoloron药理学，研究纳米颗粒运输机制，建立规模和制造工艺，并确认产品（GLP）安全性，从而创造生物光子学，疼痛治疗，流动反应器设计和纳米颗粒加工技术的专有技术。该项目结束后，将开始首次人体临床试验。

The poor bioavailability of peptides, nature's own 'drugs', limits their therapeutic application. The molecular envelope technology (MET) delivery platform allows their use as nano-enabled 'Peptide Pills'. The multi-disciplinary 'Peptide Pill' consortium, comprising drug delivery scientists, neuroscientists, physicists, chemical engineers and clinicians, will develop the pain peptide pill METDoloron. It is estimated that 20% of European adults suffer from chronic pain, which is often inadequately controlled by opioids. Additionally opioids can sometimes cause life threatening side effects. METDoloron avoids these problems by targeting a different receptor to currently used opioids, using an endogenous peptide derivativeand is therefore expected to have a significant impact on the large (US$ 50 billion), fragmented, and growing global market for pain therapeutics. The project partners will confirm METDoloron pharmacology, investigate nanoparticle transport mechanisms, establish scale-up and manufacturing processes, and confirm product (GLP) safety thus creating know-how in biophotonics, pain therapy, flow reactor design and nanoparticle processing techniques. First in man clinical trials will commence on conclusion of this project.