Research improves scarring medication for blocked artery treatments

BY LISA GIBSON

Through collaboration between doctors from Sanford Health and the University of South Dakota, peripheral artery disease patients could see improvements to their treatments in the near future.

Traditional treatment for PAD involves insertion of balloons or stents to open blocked arteries. But once the artery is open, scar tissue begins to form on the interior artery walls. “That scarring can actually re-block the artery,” says Sanford’s Dr. Patrick Kelly. Kelly partnered with Gopinath Mani, Ph.D., assistant professor in USD’s biomedical engineering program, to improve the scar-inhibiting medication that coats the balloons.

The balloons come in direct contact with the interior artery walls, rubbing the scarring medication directly onto the scars. But the drug can rub off quickly, demanding the use of multiple balloons and releasing medicine to areas that do not need scar tissue repair. Sixty to 80 percent of arteries with balloons inserted into them will re-block with scar tissue within six months, Kelly says.

The new coating Kelly and Mani have developed can be tailored to time the release of medicine, allowing the treatment of many artery segments with one balloon. The coating allows for initial inflation of the balloons, then deflation when they are traveling through healthy areas, and inflation again when medication is needed. Kelly credits Mani with being the “brains” behind the coating.

“Our technology uses novel polymeric biomaterials to tailor the drug release in such a way that the drug will be delivered only at the treatment site without any drug loss in the blood stream,” Mani says in a statement. “We are very excited that this technology provides the right platform to develop next-generation drug-coated balloons. These balloons are expected to provide an effective treatment and improve the quality of life of patients.”

Kelly says the research is in its early stages, but the drug transfer is already so efficient that the doctors are adjusting the amount of medication on the balloons to avoid releasing too much.

The controlled-release drug coating will bring savings for patients and hospitals, Kelly says, in that one balloon (at about $1,500 each) can handle treatment of a much larger area. The coating could be available for medical use in seven to eight years, Kelly says, depending on the funding and success of the next phases of development. Currently, the research is funded internally, but other options such as grants could be available at some point, he says. PB

Lisa Gibson Editor, Prairie Business 701.787.6753

lgibson@prairiebusinessmagazine.com