Self-Assembling Lipid Formulations

Abstract

Encapsulation of drugs into lipid-based liquid crystalline (LC) phases offers a broadly applicable approach for the in vivo stabilization and sustained release delivery of peptides and proteins as well as small molecule drug substances. This is exemplified by the FluidCrystal (R) Injection depot, an adaptive drug delivery system, combining ease of manufacturing, handling, and injection, with long acting release. The system exploits specific liquid mixtures of naturally occurring polar lipids and small amounts of solvents, which upon contact with minute quantities of aqueous tissue fluids self-assemble into reversed LC phases. The resulting encapsulation of dissolved or dispersed active pharmaceutical ingredients provides a release duration from a small volume injection, which is tunable from days to months.