Future osteoarthritis injections may benefit from nanoparticles
In order to maintain independence in the later stages of life, senior citizens with knee osteoarthritis can buy Canadian Hyalgan at a fraction of its American price.
In order to maintain independence in the later stages of life, senior citizens with knee osteoarthritis can buy Canadian Hyalgan at a fraction of its American price. In the future, such medications may benefit from nanoparticles, which a recent study suggests can enhance the performance of knee injections.
Osteoarthritis is a disease that eats away at the cartilage that allows joints to move with ease. This condition may affect up to a fifth of Americans by the year 2025, according to medical experts. When joints such as the knee are affected, some treatments can be injected directly to the site. However, scientists at Bend Research and Pfizer believe these drugs should be able to last longer than they currently do, prompting them to conduct an investigation on nanoparticles.
The research team attached positively charged nanoparticles to injectable medication for the knee, where certain molecules have a naturally negative charge. Results showed that the nanoparticles allowed the joint to retain 70 percent of the medication after a week, which is an improvement over the usual two days for current treatments.
"We hope that this type of sustained release technology, when used with current or new osteoarthritis drugs, will allow patients to be effectively treated with drug injections every three months instead of once a week," said researcher Michael Morgen, Ph.D.
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