A UNMC team led by Dr. Howard Gendelman, has developed long-acting nanomedicines for treating the HIV infection.
Dr. Gendelman, professor and chairman of the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience at UNMC. He says his team turned an anti-viral drug into a crystalline particle. He says this nano-particle has a homing device in it, so the particle containing the anti-HIV medicine to be site directed.
Dr. Gendelman says while a pill dissolves rapidly into the bloodstream and disseminates, the crystalline particle stays as such and only goes to the site of the virus. He says one of the advantages of the nanomedicine is that it lessens the chances that patients would experience secondary problems from the medications.
"And most importantly we can administer the drug to areas where it’s needed most and see both an enhanced clinical response, meaning patients will recover faster and secondly, the drug will have to be administered less frequently.”
The research team’s work on nanomedicines is highlighted as the cover story in the most recent issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.