Grant: Engage Grants Program

Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA), a FDA approved biodegradable polymer, is well-studied to deliver drugs in*laboratory and clinical settings and is the focus of attention of Biovectra to manufacture Health Canada (HC)*approved drug depot formulations. The physiochemical properties of PLGA, such as polymer molecular*weight, lactide to glycolide ratio, cross-linking density, size of nanoparticles and their surface chemistry are*some techniques that have been investigated to prepare controlled drug release formulations. However, these*modifications do not always satisfy critical safety standards required by health authorities like FDA and hence*are of less interest to pharmaceutical companies such as Biovectra. In this proposal, we aim to develop PLGA*based nanoparticles for prolonged drug release, using PLGA, collagen peptide conjugates in the presence of*FDA approved, cross-linker, 5'-riboflavin phosphate. 5'-riboflavin phosphate is biocompatible cross-linker,*used for ocular therapies to crosslink the retina of patients by UV induced cross-linking of collagen peptides.*Taking advantage of biocompatible properties of PLGA, 5'-riboflavin phosphate and collagen peptide, we aim*to prepare PLGA based cross-linked nanoparticles by facile conjugation of collagen peptide to PLGA*copolymers, followed by their cross-linking and nanoprecipitation in the form of nanoparticles, in the presence*of drug. The nanoparticles produced will be tested for their drug release profiles under physiological conditions*and will be evaluated for their toxicities during in vitro studies.