Abstract

The Use of Vesicles from Cow Milk for Oral Drug Delivery

Tom Anchordoquy, Professor, University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Many pharmaceuticals must be administered intravenously due to their poor oral bioavailability.  In addition to issues associated with sterility and inconvenience, the cost of repeated infusion over a six-week course of therapy costs the healthcare system tens of billions of dollars per year.  Attempts to improve oral bioavailability have traditionally focused on enhancing drug solubility and membrane permeability, and the use of synthetic nanoparticles has also been investigated.  As an alternative strategy, some reports have clearly demonstrated that exosomes from cow milk are absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract in humans, and could potentially be used for oral delivery of drugs that are traditionally administered intravenously.  Our results demonstrate that milk exosomes are absorbed from the gut as intact particles that can be modified with ligands to promote retention in target tissues.