Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, resulting in more than 600,000 deaths and a significant contributor to overall healthcare costs. Over 28 million Americans are diagnosed with heart disease and contribute more than $30 billion in healthcare-related expenses. The gradual buildup of cholesterol and minerals (plaques), or atherosclerosis, are hallmark characteristics of the condition for which arteries become occluded, leading to myocardial infarction, or heart attack.

The Need

Around 3.2 million stent procedures are performed annually worldwide to treat cardiovascular diseases. However, up to 50% of the reconstructed vessels, particularly those in the periphery, fail due to re-narrowing, or restenosis. Current anti-restenotic treatments with drug-eluting stents do not completely prevent restenosis and worsen thrombogenic risks that can eventually lead to the occlusion of the artery. Therefore, new therapeutic options are needed to eliminate plaques without the ill effects of stenting.

The Technology

This technology describes an intravenous drug delivery system that uses polymer-based nanoclusters for treating restenosis. The nanoclusters are coated with platelet membranes that make the nanoparticle water soluble, target the plaque, and encompass a drug to eliminate restenosis. The inventors have created a prototype of the delivery system and tested it within an animal model of atherosclerosis.

Treatment with the nanoclusters led to a preferential accumulation of nanoparticles in the injured vessels and a 60% decrease in neointimal hyperplasia, the primary cause of restenosis. Additionally, nanoparticles loaded with compounds such as JQ1 or PERK inhibitor produced superior results to the gold standard compound for drug-eluting stents, rapamycin.

Commercial Applications

• Targeted delivery of endothelium-protective anti-restenotic therapeutics.

Benefits/Advantages

• Stent-free
  • Lower cost
  • Less trauma & side effects
  • May more effectively reduce restenosis
• IV injection-compatible
• Personalized regimen
• Reduced need for secondary invasive interventions

Patents

Issued application in the U.S.A. & pending applications in Australia, Canada, & Europe.

Publications

Wang, B., et al. A paradigm of endothelium-protective and stent-free anti-restenotic therapy using biomimetic nanoclusters. Biomaterials. 2018, 178, 293-301.