An injectable PEG-like conjugate forms a subcutaneous depot and enables sustained delivery of a peptide drug.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Many biologics have a short plasma half-life, and their conjugation to polyethylene glycol (PEG) is commonly used to solve this problem. However, the improvement in the plasma half-life of PEGylated drugs' is at an asymptote because the development of branched PEG has only had a modest impact on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Here, we developed an injectable PEG-like conjugate that forms a subcutaneous depot for the sustained delivery of biologics. The PEG-like conjugate consists of poly[oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate] (POEGMA) conjugated to exendin, a peptide drug used in the clinic to treat type 2 diabetes. The depot-forming exendin-POEGMA conjugate showed greater efficacy than a PEG conjugate of exendin as well as Bydureon, a clinically approved sustained-release formulation of exendin. The injectable depot-forming exendin-POEGMA conjugate did not elicit an immune response against the polymer, so that it remained effective and safe for long-term management of type 2 diabetes upon chronic administration. In contrast, the PEG conjugate induced an anti-PEG immune response, leading to early clearance and loss of efficacy upon repeat dosing. The exendin-POEGMA depot also showed superior long-term efficacy compared to Bydureon. Collectively, these results suggest that an injectable POEGMA conjugate of biologic drugs that forms a drug depot under the skin, providing favorable pharmacokinetic properties and sustained efficacy while remaining non-immunogenic, offers significant advantages over other commonly used drug delivery technologies.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Ozer, I; Slezak, A; Sirohi, P; Li, X; Zakharov, N; Yao, Y; Everitt, JI; Spasojevic, I; Craig, SL; Collier, JH; Campbell, JE; D'Alessio, DA; Chilkoti, A

Published Date

  • March 2023

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 294 /

Start / End Page

  • 121985 -

PubMed ID

  • 36630826

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1878-5905

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2022.121985

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • Netherlands