A major focus at VVP is the discovery and development of targeted nanomedicines that can be delivered to specific areas in the body, such as tumors. We use advanced techniques in polymer chemistry to achieve desired drug-delivery systems that improve stability, absorption and pharmacokinetics, while achieving localized delivery and sustained release.
Examples of recent successes in the development of novel drug-delivery systems and formulations include the synthesis of poly-(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles encapsulating the thyroid hormone antagonist tetraiodothyroacetic acid (tetrac) for the treatment of follicular and medullary thyroid cancer, pancreatic and renal carcinoma; the synthesis of chitosan and chitosan-PLGA composite nanoparticles encapsulating various chemotherapeutics and conjugated to specific targeting moieties for the treatment of breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancer.