OraPickering · Effective co-delivery of therapeutic peptides and intestinal permeation enhancers using a double Pickering emulsion oral delivery system

Therapeutic peptides (TPs) are one of the fastest growing classes of therapeutics with clinical applications in severe and/or chronic diseases like cancer therapy, hormonal or immune disorders, and infectious or metabolic diseases. To date, most TPs can only be administered by invasive injection, which greatly influences treatment costs as well as patient compliance and wellbeing, as e.g. diabetic patients rely on regular insulin injections. Oral delivery of TPs poses a convenient alternative to circumvent these problems, but it is highly challenged by I) the harsh gastric environment detrimental to TPs and II) the poor permeability of the intestinal epithelium to TPs. To tackle these problems, I propose a novel oral delivery system for TPs based on a unique gastric stable Pickering double emulsion, which is able to I) protect TPs from degradation in the gastric environment and II) co-deliver hydrophilic TPs and hydrophobic permeation enhancers (PEs) to the absorption site; the intestinal epithelium surface. Simultaneous co-delivery of TPs and PEs is crucial, but not often achieved. As key deliverables, OraPickering will establish Pickering double emulsions for the encapsulation of hydrophilic TPs and hydrophobic PEs, explore their stability under gastric conditions, and confirm their efficacy and safety for intestinal TP delivery in vitro and in vivo. To implement OraPickering I will join forces with Prof. Nielsen from UCPH, combining my background in material and interface sciences with her expertise in TP delivery and intestinal permeation models and mechanisms. I consider this the ideal environment for my further career development, to learn relevant techniques for drug delivery and gain further experiences to emerge as an independent group leader. In summary, OraPickering provides a novel avenue for oral TP delivery, and thereby contributes to a more facile, safe, and cost-effective administration of TPs in the future.