
Available for Licensing
US Utility Patent US 8771756 B2
US Utility Patent US 9493352 B2
US Utility Patent US 10266408 B2
European Patent: EP2519467 (FR, DE, UK)
Melissa Reynolds
Benjamin Reynolds
Steve Foster
Steve.Foster@colostate.edu
970-491-7100
At a Glance
Researchers at Colorado State University have developed a new class of nitric oxide-releasing metal-organic frameworks (NOMOFs) through the covalent attachment of nitric oxide-releasing groups directly onto metal-organic framework structures. These materials can be incorporated into polymers and other media for use in coatings, specifically for medical devices.
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Background
Each year billions of health care dollars are spent on medical devices that fail in clinical practice (e.g., intravascular and neonatal catheters, coronary artery and vascular stents and grafts, guidewires, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation circuits, heart valves, by-pass circuits, etc.). These device failures are due to the introduction of a foreign material into the body leading to a multitude of serious health risks and undesirable complications including thrombosis, inflammation, cell proliferation, infection, and tissue overgrowth on the surface of the implanted device. Over the last 50 years, much has been learned about these device failures and attempts have been made to prevent failures using (1) alternative systemic drug therapies, (2) surface modifications on the device, or (3) a combination of both approaches.
Despite efforts to improve the efficacy of body-contacting and implantable medical devices, the incompatibility of materials within human blood and tissue still causes serious complications in patients. Thus, systemic or regional drug therapies remain necessary (e.g., use of heparin for short-term anticoagulation applications). Most often, when these drugs are administered, they produce a systemic response in the patient. Systemic responses can mask blood chemistry problems and lead to a greatly increased possibility of complications and morbidity. Research studies examining alternative mechanisms are ongoing, but there is not yet an FDA-approved alternative material that overcomes all the problems associated with body-material interactions and systemic drug therapies. As such, in clinical practice today, all implanted devices eventually fail.
To approach the aforementioned shortcomings, it is worth considering the structure and function of the ideal blood-contacting material. Preferably this material would simultaneously inhibit multiple pathways of device complication (i.e., thrombosis, inflammation, cell proliferation and migration, restenosis as well as infection) but without causing systemic side effects of its own. Such a material strategy requires not only the identification of suitable therapeutic agent(s) with appropriate biological half-lives, but the approach also requires the material’s architecture to be fabricated and tailored specifically to the needs of the clinical application. Thus, the approach to an ideal body-contacting material requires a biomaterial that can be systematically and dramatically tailored for use in a wide variety of devices while promising the simultaneous reduction in complicating factors. Currently, no material substrates exist that can be modified in such diverse ways without significantly altering the chemical, physical, or cytotoxicity properties of the material and, in turn, rendering the material unsuitable for clinical use. A modular biomaterial that can simultaneously reduce or eliminate thrombosis, inflammation, cell proliferation, and infection, and also attenuate normal tissue growth upon exposure to physiological fluid, such as blood, is paramount to improve and advance the efficacy of medical devices.
Benefits
- Overcomes challenges of biofouling on the surface of synthetic materials
- Amounts of nitric oxide per gram of material exceed typical nitric oxide materials
- Can be incorporated in polymer blends to create hybrid materials
- Remarkable chemical, thermal, and structural stabilities
- Framework structure allows pore dimensions to be modified for size inclusion/exclusion ability
Applications
- Biomedical devices and coatings
- Orthopedic and neurology applications
- Cancer treatments
- Wound healing (e.g. bandages)
- Any polymer coated medical device having complications due to clotting, infection, or tissue overgrowth
Publications
Last updated: July 2020