Telos 2 Reagent Chips from Dolomite Microfluidics have helped San Francisco-based ProLynx LLC to develop a novel drug delivery platform.
Jeff Henise, Director of Process Development at ProLynx, explained: “Traditional polymer encapsulation delivery systems rely on diffusion or breakdown of the polymer to release their payload.
“In contrast, our drug delivery system offers controlled release using self-cleaving linkers to attach the drug to hydrogel microsphere carriers.
“Drug release and subsequent gel degradation depend only on the cleavage rate of the linker, and are tunable across a wide range.
“A key part of our manufacturing process is the production of the hydrogel as microspheres, which is carried out using Telos 2 Reagent Chips.”
To produce microspheres of the correct size, we use a microfluidics approach and a custom-made Telos chip with a 50 micrometer channel. This chip is robust, with excellent chemical compatibility, and offers a high throughput for its size.
“Although there are other ways of making emulsions, microfluidics offers better control of particle size and a high yield of monodisperse emulsion. As the resulting material does not need to be screened to remove incorrectly-sized particles, this minimizes waste and increases yield by as much as 30%.”
