TissueGen Inc., makers of absorbable polymer technology for implantable drug delivery, has announced that its patented extrusion technology now enables absorbable fibers to be loaded with more drugs and biologically based entities than ever before. They are working with Biomedical Structures LLC (BMS) to develop a finished textile platform for drug-eluting medical device applications using TissueGen’s patented drug delivery technology.
TissueGen and Biomedical Structures Advance Drug Delivery
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TissueGen’s core technology includes fiber extrusion at room temperature, which preserves the biological activity of incorporated drugs and therapeutic agents. This enables drug delivery through biodegradable fibers, a “groundbreaking” format that drastically expands the types of agents that can be directly incorporated into implantable medical devices. Drugs are incorporated into the fiber according to device performance requirements using a combination of commercially available polymer components.
BMS will utilize the TissueGen polymer extrusion platform to develop biomedical textile structures designed for drug delivery within the body. TissueGen indicates that because its technology allows for the engineering of both chemical composition and mechanical properties such as size, shape, and porosity to each specific application, a single structure can satisfy both physical and pharmaceutical performance requirements without requiring additional material support for implantation. Ideal for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications, the polymer platform is bio-absorbable and can control therapeutic release over time in accordance with its designed degradation profile as device performance requires.
“TissueGen’s polymer technology is exactly the drug delivery solution that can help to overcome many of the constraints of current polymer-based systems, ” said BMS CEO Dean Tulumaris in the February 12, 2013 news release. “As BMS works to provide our customers with an increasingly robust suite of solutions for every device design challenge, we believe the TissueGen absorbable delivery platform will provide a tremendous addition to our biomedical textile development capabilities for cardiovascular, tissue engineering, and other applications.”
“We look forward to working with BMS and its customers to bring this important technology to market, ” added Christopher Knowles, CEO of TissueGen. “With its extensive expertise and leadership in the medical textiles market, Biomedical Structures is ideally suited to offer our proven drug delivery platform as a viable choice for medical device and pharma companies.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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