Professor Tony McHale, working with other scientists at Gendel Ltd, a University spin-out biotechnology company based on Professor McHale’s research and located on the University Science Research Park at Coleraine, has developed a method of loading red blood cells with a payload of drugs which can be released by a beam of ultrasound when they hit the target diseased tissue.

As well as targeting diseased areas precisely, the new technology would keep debilitating side effects to a minimum, making it invaluable in the fight against diseases like cancer where highly toxic medications are used.

Red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body, have been tried as drug delivery mechanisms before, but with only limited success. The problem to date has been the difficulty in delivering the payload of drugs to exactly the right place in the body.

Now, Professor McHale, from the University’s School of Biomedical Sciences at Coleraine, believes he has overcome this problem.

He discovered that red cells can be sensitized so that they burst open when exposed to ultrasound. A beam is focused on the tissue where the drug is needed, and red cells loaded with the drug are injected into the bloodstream.

When the cells reach the tissue underneath the beam, they burst, releasing their payload of drugs directly into the diseased cells -- and leaving surrounding healthy tissues unaffected.

If the technology proves successful in clinical trials in humans it could be used to load red blood cells with a range of drugs used to treat a variety of diseases.

Professor McHale said, “It is a tremendous improvement over existing techniques for loading drugs. The red blood cells pass through the beam and accumulate enough energy to break open. This technology means that we can determine when and where the cells deliver their load of medicines, enabling us to target diseased or infected tissue with great accuracy.”

Les Russell, Chief Executive of Gendel Ltd, said that the team is building a device which would sensitize about 20 mililiters of a patient’s blood to ultrasound. Then the cells would be loaded with drugs by forcing pores to open. When the cells are loaded they are then put back into the bloodstream and circulate normally until they hit the ultrasound beam.

The new technology has won acclaim from a leading expert in the field. Alfred Strachere, editor-in-chief of the prestigious journal Drug Delivery, said the technique looked promising as a means of targeting treatments.

“This company seems to have a way of delivering it to a specific site, which would make it much more valuable. It's a unique and ingenious way of approaching the problem," he said.

Dr. Chris Barnett, Chief Executive of the University of Ulster Science Research Parks, said, “This invention is indicative of the cutting edge technologies being developed by the world class biomedical research activities at the University of Ulster."

He added, “The effective commercialization of University technologies through the formation of a high technology spin-out and joint venture companies is central to driving the development of the knowledge-based economy."

24-Jul-2001