Sol-gel Based Matrix for Increased Stability of Therapeutic Reagents

ABSTRACT: The necessity of cold-chain transport is a critical deficiency for a large number of vaccines, therapeutics, and drugs. More than 17 million people die every year from infectious diseases, particularly in the developing world. Many of these deaths could be prevented by vaccination, however heat-sensitivity and the need for cold-chain transport has resulted in underutilization of vaccines in low-resource settings. For temperature sensitive compounds, maintaining the cold chain is critical for bioactivity. To address this need, Luna proposes to utilize its biomimetic sol-gel based preservation matrix in order to encapsulate a variety of therapeutic reagents of interest to the Air Force. The proposed sol-gel matrix will provide mechanical and chemical stabilization to the encapsulated reagents resulting in substantially enhanced thermostability. Luna has previously utilized this stabilizing matrix for a variety of biologics with excellent success, including stabilization of enzymes, vertebrate/mammalian cells, bacteria, and viruses. Luna will leverage this previous research to rapidly incorporate new reagents into sol-gel based matrices for therapeutic applications.; BENEFIT: Luna Innovations anticipates that this program will result in the development of an innovative pharmaceutical excipient, the thermostabilizing sol-gel based matrix. While this technology will be designed to meet specific therapeutic reagent needs, the technology can be optimized for a wide range of potential vaccine candidates and multiple delivery methods. This technology has also been leveraged over a variety of different applications including biological based sensing and diagnostics or lab-on-a-chip technologies, which will see shorter development efforts because the stabilization material technology will be more advanced and better understood due to this program.