ETH-Zürich: Trigger-inducible drug depot to replace repetitive injections

Licensing opportunity

Patients requiring daily injections of drugs might be able to replace them with a daily pill in conjunction with so-called “drug depots” developed by researchers at the ETH-Zürich, Switzerland. The invention is being patented, and is now available for licensing.

The idea is to embed a quantity of the desired drug in a biomaterial and implant it inside the patient. The drug depot will then release the required therapeutic dose in response to an external stimulus supplied in an oral pill.

Using a daily pill instead of a daily injection is expected to lead to significant improvements in patient compliance, as well as significantly improve quality of life.

The drug depot is made of clinically approved materials as well as humanised sensor components in order to ensure maximum biocompatibility. Very low trigger concentrations are needed. For the trigger it is foreseen to use FDA-approved substances with known pharmacokinetics and negligible side effects.

ETH transfer, ETH-Zürich’s technology transfer office, says the drug depot has been validated in culture with human cells, where a model drug – an embedded growth factor – was dose-dependently released as a function of the trigger concentration.