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One of the early, successful uses of nanoparticles has been to develop delivery vehicles capable
of ferrying large amounts of water-insoluble drugs to tumors. Abraxane, for example, uses
albumin nanoparticles to deliver high concentrations of paclitaxel to breast tumors, eliminating the
use of the solvent mixture that itself can be toxic enough to limit the utility of this powerful
anticancer agent. As a result, patients treated with Abraxane suffer fewer side effects and
improved outcomes compared to those who receive other formulations of paclitaxel.
As a means of helping researchers develop nanoparticle-based formulations of water-insoluble
drugs, investigators at the University of Texas at Austin have conducted a systematic study to
quantify some of the key parameters involved in forming stable nanoparticles containing
maximum levels of water-insoluble drug molecules. The findings from these experiments have
been published in the journal Langmuir.
Robert Williams III, Ph.D., led this study of how water-insoluble drugs become incorporated
into nanoparticles. Using a variety of chemical, temperature, and mixing conditions, the
investigators create nanoparticles in which drug molecules account for as much as 86% of the
final weight of the drug-nanoparticle combination.
Over the course of these experiments, the researchers found, for example that slowing the
formation of the nanoparticles themselves had a large, positive effect on final drug loading levels.
Mixing energy also had a large effect, as did the addition of polymer stabilizers, which led to the
production of smaller nanoparticles. In addition to generating experimental data that may help
guide future nanoparticle drug delivery vehicles, the researchers also provide mechanistic insights
that may also prove useful.
This work is detailed in a paper titled, "Drug nanoparticles by antisolvent precipitation: mixing
energy versus surfactant stabilization." This paper was published online in advance of print
publication. An abstract of this paper is available at the journal's website. View abstract.
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