Implementation

Our project this year is a type of targeting drug which can be used in cancer treatment. However, there are many more steps and problems we should consider before a drug can actually be used clinically.

What we did in this summer is the very first step to find out if the drug delivery system we designed can possibly work. Next we have to find the professional company to evaluate our idea and looking for investment which is significant to have financial support. It is impossible conducting the actually useful drugs by our own.

Process development

The first step is designing the expansion process with the platformed method. We can also design the protocol by ourselves but it is difficult and easily fail which will lead to the loss of the funds. Therefore we had to search and ask for cooperate with the pharmaceutical company produce this kind of chemical based drug aiming for producing safety, effective, quality controllable drugs with high quantity producing process.

How can we do the expansion? For example, expansion the production of the liposome. As the production of liposome in the unit of ml is not enough for industrial production. This process mainly carried by chemical reaction, hence the reaction is only occurs in a larger environment. Do the experiment under a larger environment area after analyzing the physical and chemical condition in this environment, ensure the product gaining is the same as carried out in the laboratory.

Above all, all the other products in our process can be designed based on this idea: carried out in small environment, transfer it into a larger environment, analyze the physical and chemical difference between two environment, design the different amount of reactant and condition, compare the result after several experiment, find the lack in the whole process, finally gain the similar quantity of products.

Development for analyzing methods

As our drug is built up by different parts. So after every expansion we have to use different and combination analyzing method to determine if what we wanted is produced and the amount it produced precisely. This process is extremely important as we had to identify exact we we produced. The methods for identify physical and chemical structure like mass spectrum, HPLC and so on, for identify its active like ELISA and ELONA, have to be utilized and repeated to gain exact data.

For example, we have an experiment to produce more duxrobinxin covered by liposomes in one step by a larger system, after this step, we have to do analyze on the structure of the liposome, the size of the liposome and the amount of duxrobinxin each of it carried.

Besides, the products of each experiment must be analyzed and record the data for comparison. In order to control the variable, the content and method must be kept the same for each product at different steps.

Purification and preparation

Purification and preparation is using the chemical and physical properties of the drug to get the pure drug and developing a method to stop it from decomposed for a period.

In vivo tests

In vivo test on the cell and animals to prove the security of the drug. Animal test is usual held on mice and monkeys.

A valid in vivo test would require us to first prove its:

1. Bioavailability, for example, we have to somehow prove that drugs can be absorbed by organs. Bioavailability is usually assessed by determining the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC—see figure). The most reliable measure of a drug’s bioavailability is AUC. AUC is directly proportional to the total amount of unchanged drug that reaches systemic circulation. Drug products may be considered bioequivalent in extent and rate of absorption if their plasma concentration curves are essentially superimposable.^[1]

3. Safety. We will have to include more results on its side effects, median lethal dose and other health issues caused by different dosage. At last, we will have to propose a dosage for humans. The consideration of safety test in shown below. Besides, to ensure safety, the methods of analyzing is also important.

The purpose of in vivo test is to decide the amount of the drug we should use to ensure safety when we utilize the drug to treat patient. We should also focus on immunogenicity, as our project doesn't consider the effect on immune system, hence before every preparation we need to do more research and experiment to see how immune system will treat our drug and whether the modification we had to made to adapt the immune system.

Pharmacology test

The propose of the pharmacology should be like what shown below.

- Identify the unexpected pharmacodynamic properties of the test substance that may be related to human safety.
- Evaluate the adverse pharmacodynamic and/or pathophysiological effects of the test substance observed in toxicological tests and/or clinical trials.
- Study the mechanism of the observed and suspected adverse pharmacodynamic effects.

The research plan that meets the above research objectives should be clearly stated. ^[2]

Stability test

Stability testing is an important content that runs through the entire drug research and development, clinical, marketing and post-marketing quality research. It is the basis for the formulation of product expiration dates and provides a basis for drug production technology, formulations, packaging materials, storage, and transportation conditions. It is also the basis for the formulation of product quality standards. Biological products are more sensitive to environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light. In order to ensure their safety and effectiveness, and avoid inactivation or degradation, corresponding stability tests must be carried out according to the characteristics of the products.

Construct the stability test. By building the environment in human internal environment to find the half-life of the drug.

IND application

Giving our experiment result to the government known as IND application. which normally consist of four parts: the form and the structure of the compound, the pharmacology of the drug, the condition of this kind of drug in the market, the basic condition of the applying drug.

Clinical trials

If we pass the IND application we can do the clinic test. However, a huge amount of tests still need to be carried out. The tests for such as pharmacology, stability, pharmacokinetics, toxicology and light safety are required to be done.Accoding to 中国药典^[2]

This is a long period usually go across 4-6 years. During the period we will compare our process and its yield, modifying our protocol to gain a higher yield. Evaluate the adaption of the process developing. CQA evaluates the risk and potential.

During the first clinic trail will also carried on the animals first, in order to prove the safety of the drug. Besides, the pharmacokinetics value and the amount of drug used per dose is determined in this stage.

Outlook

As our drug can also be applied with other aptamers to detect the unknown receptors on cancer cell, therefore it is a better implementation as a combination therapy to treat cancer since aptamer is our trigger. For example, the drug can detect triple negative breast cancer using suitable aptamer, hence our drug provides an alternative way to treat those patient who suffer from the triple negative breast cancer.

Reference

1. Manuals. (n.d.). Drug Bioavailability. MSD Manual Professional Edition. https://www.msdmanuals.com/professional/clinical-pharmacology/pharmacokinetics/drug-bioavailability#v6524385
2. ICH指导原则 - S9抗癌药物的非临床评价 - 蒲标网. (n.d.). 蒲标网. http://db.ouryao.com/ich/content.php?lang=cn&id=60