Success is in the delivery. This white paper from ALZET reviews applications and benefits of osmotic pumps for continuous, precise drug delivery in the context of preclinical oncology research.

Although life-saving, drugs that fight cancer usually walk a fine line between therapeutic and toxic. At a low dose, they might have little efficacy; at a high dose, they might incur harmful side effects. Mice metabolize drugs much more quickly than humans, which exacerbates this challenge: shortly after administration, a drug’s concentration in plasma and tissue rises dramatically, followed by a rapid drop as the drug is cleared. Particularly for drugs with a short half-life, it can be challenging or impossible to stay within a narrow therapeutic index window.

Osmotic pumps are a unique solution to this challenge, continuously and precisely delivering a drug for up to six weeks in rodent models. In keeping consistent with the 3Rs of animal research, osmotic pumps are an effective refinement of experimental design. Less animal handling and fewer serial injections are required, minimizing stress in the animal and researcher alike. In addition, improved statistical significance means fewer animals are needed per experiment.

In this white paper, ALZET presents 3 compelling case studies highlighting the applications and benefits of osmotic pumps for oncology research.

Case studies highlighted in the white paper include:

• Effectively testing novel therapeutic agents, alone and in combination
• Advances in primary and metastatic brain tumor treatments with targeted delivery to the CNS
• Testing agents to prevent relapse and metastasis induced by traditional cancer treatments
• Preventing cancer cachexia by blocking p300
• Treating bone cancer pain by blocking pain transmission pathways in the brain
• Antioxidant therapy to combat alopecia due to chemotherapy

This white paper is most valuable to oncology researchers interested in understanding how drug administration can affect therapeutic index and learning how they can optimize drug efficacy, reduce side effects and minimize animal stress due to serial injections and handling.

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To learn more about the use of implantable pumps as an alternative to serial injections for pharmacological research, watch the webinar