Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Designated organic active ingredient containing – Carbohydrate doai
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-31
2004-03-30
Wilson, James O. (Department: 1623)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Designated organic active ingredient containing
Carbohydrate doai
C514S468000, C536S018100, C536S018300, C549S298000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06713454
ABSTRACT:
1. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1.1 Field of the Invention
The present invention provides amphiphilic prodrugs comprising a therapeutic compound conjugated to an PEG-oligomer/polymer and methods for using said prodrugs to enable oral drug delivery and/or delivery of drugs across the blood brain barrier (BBB).
1.2 Related Art
The following is a discussion of art related to the present invention.
1.2.1 Cancer of the Central Nervous System (CNS)
The American Cancer Society estimates that 16,800 people will be diagnosed with primary tumors of the central nervous system (CNS) in the United States in 1999, and that 13,100 of these will eventually die of their disease (American Cancer Society, 1999). Primary CNS tumors are among the most intractable cancers to treat. While such tumors rarely metastasize, their anatomic location causes a high incidence of morbidity and mortality resulting from compression of surrounding tissue as well as destruction of tissue invaded by such tumors. Additionally, CNS tumor cells often migrate away from the tumor to other locations in the brain. These migratory cells eventually form recurrent tumors. Multiple CNS tumors can also result from metastases of non-CNS neoplasmas.
Standard treatment for CNS tumors includes surgery and radiation therapy. However, with regard to surgery, complete surgical resection is often not possible. Normal brain tissue adjacent to the tumor is often critical to the survival or the quality of life of the patient. Consequently, survival of patients treated by surgery is low. The problems associated with radiation therapy are widely known in the art.
Systemic chemotherapy, would be a valuable therapeutic option for CNS tumors due to its ability to target microscopic deposits of tumor cells, including cells missed by radiation and surgery. However, the inability to get such agents across the BBB has proven to be a significant limitation to the use of chemotherapy in the CNS. Many agents with activity against tumors do not cross the BBB to enter the brain parenchyma. Further, although many proven antineoplastic agents, including etoposide, will accumulate in brain tumors (Kiya, Uozumi et al. 1992), the concentration of these drugs decreases rapidly with distance from the tumor (Donelli, Zucchetti et al. 1992). In order to achieve effective treatment of the whole brain and expose microdeposits of tumor cells to drug, it would be desirable to have means for delivering therapeutic concentrations of anti-cancer drugs to the entire volume of the brain.
1.2.2 Barriers to CNS Drug Delivery
The brain is equipped with a barrier system which must be traversed to permit therapeutic drug delivery to the CNS. This brain barrier system has two major components: the choroid plexus and the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The choroid plexus separates cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the bloodstream, and the BBB separates brain interstitial fluid (ISF) from blood.
The BBB has about 1000 times more surface area than the choroid plexus and is the primary obstacle to delivery of therapeutic compounds to the CNS. The BBB acts as a selective partition, regulating the exchange of substances, between the CNS and the peripheral circulation. The primary structure of the BBB is the brain capillary endothelial wall. The tight junctions of brain capillary endothelial cells prevent circulating compounds from reaching the brain ISF by the paracellular route. Furthermore, recent work suggests the existence of a separate physiological barrier at the level of the basal lamina (Kroll et al. 1998). Other unique characteristics of the BBB include lack of intracellular fenestrations and pinocytic vesicles and a net negative charge on the luminal surface of the endothelium (Kroll et al. 1998).
The mechanisms by which substances traverse the BBB may generally be divided into active and passive transport mechanisms. Lipophilic molecules readily traverse the BBB by passive transport or diffusion through the endothelial plasma membranes, while hydrophilic molecules typically require an active transport system. Diffusion of many therapeutic compounds, across the BBB is also inhibited by size.
Many currently existing drug substances are unable to overcome these structural and metabolic barriers to enter the BBB in sufficient quantities to be efficacious. There is therefore a need for pharmaceutical compounds which can enable penetration of anti-cancer drugs through the BBB in sufficient amounts and at sufficient rates to be efficacious. Furthermore, many substances which, in theory, should be able to cross the BBB due to their lipophilicity, are not suitable for parenteral or oral delivery in the absence of potentially allergenic formulation ingredients. There is a need in the art for prodrugs which increase the solubility of drugs, preferably resulting in amphiphilic drugs which are orally available, soluble in the bloodstream, and which improve the ability of such drugs to enter the CNS. Conversely, there is a need in the art for prodrugs which increase the lipophilicity of hydrophilic drugs to produce amphiphilic prodrugs. Moreover, it is desirable that such amphiphilic prodrugs are hydrolyzed in vivo to release the active parent compound.
1.2.3 Strategies for Delivering Therapeutic Compounds to the CNS
Many attempts have been made in the art to deliver therapeutic compounds to the CNS with varying levels of success. Such attempts can generally be grouped into two categories: invasive and pharmacological.
Invasive delivery strategies include, for example, mechanical procedures, such as implantation of an intraventricular catheter, followed by pharmaceutical infusion into the ventricular compartment. Aside from general considerations relating to the invasiveness of mechanical procedures, a major difficulty with mechanical approaches is the lack of drug distribution. For example, injection of drugs into the CSF compartment commonly results in very little distribution beyond the surface of the brain. This lack of distribution is due in part to rapid exportation of drugs to the peripheral circulation.
Another invasive strategy for delivering therapeutic compounds to the CNS is by intracartoid infusion of highly concentrated osmotically active substances, such as mannitol or arabinose. Their high local concentration causes shrinkages of the brain capillary endothelial cells, resulting in a transient opening of the tight junctions which enable molecules to traverse the BBB. Such procedures have considerable toxic effects, including inflammation, encephalitis, etc. Furthermore, such procedures are not selective: the opening of the tight junctions of the BBB permits many undesirable substances to cross the BBB along with the therapeutically beneficial molecule. For a recent review of osmotic opening and other invasive means for traversing the BBB, see Kroll, Neurosurgery, Vol. 42, No. 5, May 1998.
There is therefore a need in the art for means for selectively enabling therapeutic agents, such as peptides, to cross the BBB in a controlled manner which permits accumulation of sufficient quantities of the therapeutic in the brain to induce the desired therapeutic effect.
The present inventors have surprisingly discovered that conjugation of small amphiphilic polymers to drugs, such as etoposide, solves many of the aforementioned difficulties. This approach relies on rational oligomer design using a hydrophobic component plus a hydrophilic component to balance the physiochemical properties of the parent molecule. By varying the molecular weight of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic components of the oligomer and/or the molecular weight of the amphiphilic portion of the oligomer, the overall physiochemical profile of the conjugated molecule can be systematically adjusted to produce the desired degree of amphiphilicity with concomitant alterations in solubility and pharmacokinetics.
The etoposide prodrugs of the present invention can effectively cross the blood-brain barrier. Based on the empirical data presented herein and on the results of our prior research described in U.S. patent applicat
Dyakonov Tatyana A.
Ekwuribe Nnochiri
Price Christopher H.
Barrett, Esq. William A.
Maier Leigh C.
Myers Bigel Sibley & Sajovec P.A.
Nobex Corporation
Wilson James O.
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