Pharmaceutical Research

Amselem, Shimon

doi: 10.1007/s11095-019-2703-7pmid: 31741058

Research conducted in microgravity conditions has the potential to yield new therapeutics, as advances can be achieved in the absence of phenomena such as sedimentation, hydrostatic pressure and thermally-induced convection. The outcomes of such studies can significantly contribute to many scientific and technological fields, including drug discovery. This article reviews the existing traditional microgravity platforms as well as emerging ideas for enabling microgravity research focusing on SpacePharma’s innovative autonomous remote-controlled microgravity labs that can be launched to space aboard nanosatellites to perform drug research in orbit. The scientific literature is reviewed and examples of life science fields that have benefited from studies in microgravity conditions are given. These include the use of microgravity environment for chemical applications (protein crystallization, drug polymorphism, self-assembly of biomolecules), pharmaceutical studies (microencapsulation, drug delivery systems, behavior and stability of colloidal formulations, antibiotic drug resistance), and biological research, including accelerated models for aging, investigation of bacterial virulence , tissue engineering using organ-on-chips in space, enhanced stem cells proliferation and differentiation.

Cullion, Kathleen; Petishnok, Laura; Ji, Tianjiao; Zurakowski, David; Kohane, Daniel

doi: 10.1007/s11095-019-2715-3pmid: 31705417

Miller, Hunter; Frieboes, Hermann

doi: 10.1007/s11095-019-2721-5pmid: 31773287

Lamson, Nicholas; Ball, Rebecca; Fein, Katherine; Whitehead, Kathryn

doi: 10.1007/s11095-019-2712-6pmid: 31659456

Crombag, Marie-Rose; Dorlo, Thomas; Pan, Ellen; Straten, Anoek; Bergman, Andries; Erp, Nielka; Beijnen, Jos; Huitema, Alwin

doi: 10.1007/s11095-019-2706-4pmid: 31732882

Quaas, Bastian; Burmeister, Laura; Li, Zhaopeng; Satalov, Alexandra; Behrens, Peter; Hoffmann, Andrea; Rinas, Ursula

doi: 10.1007/s11095-019-2705-5pmid: 31748894

Almeida e Sousa, Luis; Dömötör, Kata; Paiva, Mafalda; Cacela, Constança

doi: 10.1007/s11095-019-2710-8pmid: 31677137

Ghamkhari, Aliyeh; Pouyafar, Ayda; Salehi, Roya; Rahbarghazi, Reza

doi: 10.1007/s11095-019-2694-4pmid: 31646391

Braunstein, Miriam; Hickey, Anthony; Ekins, Sean

doi: 10.1007/s11095-019-2704-6pmid: 31650321

The discovery of drugs to treat tuberculosis (TB) was a major medical milestone in the twentieth century. However, from the outset, drug resistance was observed. Currently, of the 10 million people that exhibit TB symptoms each year, 450,000 have multidrug or extensively drug resistant (MDR or XDR) TB. While greater understanding of the host and pathogen (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mtb) coupled with scientific ingenuity will lead to new drugs and vaccines, in the meantime 4000 people die daily from TB. Thus, efforts to improve existing TB drugs should also be prioritized. Improved efficacy and decreased dose and associated toxicity of existing drugs would translate to greater compliance, life expectancy and quality of life of Mtb infected individuals. One potential strategy to improve existing drugs is to deliver them by inhalation as aerosols to the lung, the primary site of Mtb infection. Inhaled drugs are used for other pulmonary diseases, but they have yet to be utilized for TB. Inhaled therapies for TB represent an untapped opportunity that the pharmaceutical, clinical and regulatory communities should consider.

Zhu, Liang; Wang, Ying; Joyce, Alison; Djura, Ihor; Gorovits, Boris

doi: 10.1007/s11095-019-2699-zpmid: 31654236