Intraperitoneal Drug Delivery

Intraperitoneal (IP) drug delivery is a treatment therapy commonly used for disorders associated with the peritoneal cavity. This includes peritoneal adhesions and intraperitoneal malignancies. IP drug delivery helps in the regional therapy of these disorders by providing relatively high concentration and longer half-life of a drug in the peritoneal cavity. Various studies suggest that IP delivery of chemotherapeutic agents is a promising approach for malignancies in the peritoneal cavity compared to the systemic administration. However, IP drug delivery faces several challenges, such as premature clearance of a small molecular weight drug from the peritoneal cavity, lack of target specificity, and poor drug penetration into the target tissues. Previous studies have proposed the use of microspheres as these small particles can release the drug gradually over time. The prolonged retention time enhances local bioavailability of the drug and reduces systemic absorption. Additionally, the microspheres distribute homogeneous in the peritoneal cavity.

The Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology focuses mainly on extending the residence time of chemotherapeutic agents in the peritoneal cavity and to optimize IP treatment. Ongoing work investigates  paclitaxel-loaded microspheres for treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.