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LNCTechnology

Lipid Nanocapsules

The lipid nanocapsule (LNC) is a nanoscale drug delivery system designed to mimic natural lipoproteins therefore representing an ideal biocompatible nanocarrier for poorly water-soluble compounds. The LNC has a liquid oily core composed of medium chain triglycerides stabilized by a semi-solid membrane made of a mixture of lipophilic and hydrophilic surfactants.

All excipients used are GRAS listed (Generally Recognized As Safe, FDA) food substances and approved for parenteral delivery. The LNC has a very uniform size distribution which can be fine-tuned from ~20 to 120 nm simply by modifying the oil-to-surfactant ratio in the formulation.

A Robust and Scalable Manufacturing Process

The strength of the LNC platform is not only due to LNC properties, but also their method of preparation. The manufacturing process is based on the phase inversion method consisting of controlled heating and cooling cycles of an emulsion.

This process is very simple, robust and does not require the use of any organic solvents. Moreover, it is easily transposable to industrial scale production and allows for an easy sterilization by filtration. Despite the very high colloidal stability of LNC suspensions, LNC may be lyophilized to prevent potential drug degradation or drug retention issues upon prolonged storage.

Potential Delivery of a Wide Range of Drugs

The LNC is specifically designed to deliver lipophilic drugs encapsulated within its inner lipid core. However, amphiphilic compounds can also be associated with LNCs by their interactions with the surfactant shell of the particles. Moreover, grafting of positively charged polymers allows LNC to be efficiently associated with nucleic acid-based drugs including siRNA and mRNA.

Example of drugs formulated using the LNC technology:

  • Amiodarone
  • Etoposide
  • Paclitaxel
  • Curcumin
  • Ferocifenol
  • Peptides
  • Decitabine
  • Ibuprofen
  • Sorafenib
  • Docetaxel
  • siRNA/mRNA
  • Tamoxifen

Benefits of Choosing the LNC Technology

LNC provides several pharmaceutical benefits, including protection from degradation of drugs by encapsulation, improved pharmacokinetics (longer circulation time in blood) and passive or active drug targeting.

Examples of benefits related to the use of the LNC technology includes:

  • Solubilization/delivery lipophilic and/or amphiphilic drugs
  • Delivery of both small molecules and biomolecules (peptides, mRNA)
  • Co-delivery of drugs GRAS listed excipients
  • Solvent-free scalable manufacturing process
  • Easy sterilization by filtration
  • Prolonged circulation times
  • Sustained release
  • Improved uptake
  • Passive or active targeted delivery

Please contact us to get additional information on how the LNC technology could be applied
and optimized to the development of your drug product.