Targeting cartilage matrix for osteoarthritis therapy: Cationic drug conjugates vs cationic liposomes

Luca Morici – PhD, University of Geneva; Paula Gonzalez-Fernandez – PhD, University of Geneva; Eric Allémann – Professor, Section of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva

Introduction:

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major healthcare concern due to its high prevalence, worsened by population aging. There is no OA cure yet, and despite the development of disease-modifying OA drugs (DMOADs), their administration suffers from a poor drug transport to the cartilage, limiting their therapeutic efficacy.

To overcome these limitations, several strategies targeting chondrocytes within cartilage may be considered (1). In this study, we evaluate two cationic nanocarriers for intra-articular administration, an avidin-based drug conjugate and a cationic liposome (2) in terms of their in vitro, ex vivo and preclinical performances.