Pharma Middle East

Biography

Biography: Amira Sayed Mahmoud Hanafy

Abstract

The employment of biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic drugs and macromolecules to the CNS has been pioneered in 1999. Since then, various polymers have been utilized to tailor nanoparticles with desirable properties from the “efficiency” point of view. In comparison with liposomes, a platform that have been enrolled into clinical trials and proved successful, several challenges face the development of CNS-targeted polymeric nanoparticles. The formulation, stability, processability, and cost/benefit ratio are not the sole factors holding back the development of polymeric nanoparticles. The safety parameter of short- and long-term administration of such nanoparticles is usually overlooked, especially that the exact in vivo fate of polymeric nanoparticles is not fully understood. Less that 2% of the published articles relating to CNS targeted polymeric nanoparticles between 2011 and 2015 dealt with the nanotoxicological assessment especially in the brain, liver, and kidney. In this presentation, the formulation factors that might affect the overall safety of the polymeric nanoparticulate delivery systems such as the particle size, surface properties, coatings, tendency to aggregation, and the addition of stabilizers will be discussed. In addition, the several in vitro and in vivo experimental models used to assess the toxicity of polymeric nanoparticles will be summarized. This presentation aims to redirect the current interest of pharmaceutical researchers to nanotoxicological aspects, and encourage them to comb their efforts with those of pharmacologists and toxicologists so as to push forward the development of polymeric nanoparticles for CNS drug delivery in the near future.