PSW 2493 We Have You Surrounded! | Philip DeShong

Lecture Starts at 13:22
www.pswscience.org
April 5, 2023
We Have You Surrounded!
Encapsulation and Its Application to Vaccine Formulation and Drug Delivery
Philip DeShong
Emeritus Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry
University of Maryland
The use of medicinal compounds for the treatment of ailments in humans and animals predates recorded history, and many of these ancient remedies are popular even today. However, the administration of medicinal compounds is complicated by a host of physical and biological processes that limit their effectiveness.
The modern therapeutic armamentarium has two general categories of chemotherapeutics: small molecule drugs, such as aspirin and oxycontin, and biotherapeutics, such as erythropoietin (Epogen) and etanercept (Enbrel). Small molecule drugs typically contain fewer than 50 atoms, while biotherapeutics are derived from naturally occurring biomolecules such as proteins and DNA that contain many thousands of atoms. Examples of each of these different classes of chemotherapeutics will be presented and differences in the formulation strategies for the two categories will be presented.
Encapsulation techniques for the formulation of each category of chemotherapeutic have been developed to meet the different challenges they pose. This lecture will discuss small molecule formulation briefly; but, will mainly focus on the challenges posed by biotherapeutics. The scope and limitations of two encapsulation strategies will be featured: the Pfizer-BioNtek-Moderna mRNA-based Covid vaccine and an antibody-drug conjugate. Although both of these products have been highly successful in both the clinic and financially, neither is ideal, and a next generation of encapsulation technology will be required to extend the application of these biotherapeutics, particularly in the developing world. The lecture will conclude with a discussion of some next generation solutions currently being pursued.
Philip DeShong is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Maryland. He is also a Consultant on Integrity and Compliance at UMd, and he is a member of the ACS Committee on Ethics. Previously, he served as Chief Compliance Officer in the Division of Research at UMD, and held adjunct positions at Greenbaum Cancer Center, the Center for Nanomedicine, and the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at UMd. In addition, Philip is Chief Technology Officer of Precision Nano Assemblies and previously founded and served as President of SD Nanosciences.
Philip’s research interests center on the development of new synthetic methods, the total synthesis of biologically active substances, and the application of functionalized nanomaterials for use as diagnostic and drug delivery agents.
He is an author on more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, and he has mentored over 100 research students and postdoctoral fellows.
Philip earned a BS in Chemistry at UT-Austin and a DSc in Chemistry at MIT. He also did postdoctoral work at MIT and ETH Zurich.
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