IV drips may soon be a thing of the past.
Published:
August 21, 2025
3 min read
IV Drips into Simple Injections
Peptides and antibodies are powerful medicines, but they tend to clump together (aggregate), which weakens their effect. To stay stable, they need to be cold and dilute, not ideal when high doses are required.
To avoid aggregation, these drugs are often given as low-dose IV drips, which means hospitals, trained staff, and lots of time. Not exactly patient-friendly.
Stanford Researchers have developed a novel delivery platform that maintains the stability of these protein drugs even at high concentrations, enabling the use of subcutaneous injections (such as insulin pens). Imagine patients using autoinjectors at home, no clinic required.
Eric Appel, an associate professor of materials science and engineering and senior author on the paper, said, “This is a platform that potentially works with any biologic drug, so that we can inject it easily. That takes these treatments from a several-hour ordeal at a clinic with an IV infusion to something you can do in seconds with an autoinjector at your house.”
Researchers created a polyacrylamide copolymer called MoNi that stays solid even when it gets warm, unlike most drug additives that turn soft and sticky. They mixed MoNi with a protein drug in water, turned it into tiny droplets, and then dried it using a method called spray drying. This produced a fine powder where each protein particle is wrapped in a protective layer of MoNi, keeping it stable and ready for use.
Appel said, “We ended up with something that looks like a candy-coated chocolate, where the protein is on the inside and our special polymer forms a solid, glassy coating on the outside.”
The researchers took the protein-MoNi powder and mixed it into a special liquid that holds the particles in place without dissolving them, like fruit floating in jelly. Thanks to the MoNi coating, the protein particles don’t clump together. They stay dry and stable inside the liquid, safe from degradation. When injected, this suspension delivers the drug efficiently, no IV drip, no cold storage panic, just an innovative, patient-friendly solution.
Carolyn Jons, a doctoral student in Appel’s lab and co-first author on the paper, said, “Because the microparticles are spherical and have smooth surfaces, they’re able to roll over each other and still be able to go through tiny needles and be injected into a person, but you can hit, really, high concentrations.”
Researchers tested their new method with three protein drugs: albumin, human immunoglobulin, and a COVID antibody treatment. They achieved very high concentrations, over 500 mg/mL, meaning half the solution was pure protein. Despite being so dense, it could still be injected smoothly, which is twice as strong as typical injections.
Even better, the drug stayed stable across a wide range of temperatures. It didn’t break down after being frozen and thawed 10 times or stored in warm conditions.
Alexander Prossnitz, a postdoctoral researcher and co-first author on the paper, said, “The mechanical properties of these dried particles matter a lot more than the chemical structure of the individual drug molecules, which means we can take almost any protein drug and formulate it this way. It ends up being a huge improvement over existing technologies.”
Appel said, “This platform is sophisticated in its ability to stabilize proteins and enable new drug products that would not normally be feasible, and which can be administered in a way that is much less burdensome.”
They hope that the next generation of protein-based drug treatments will be faster, easier, and more effective for patients.
Journal Reference:
- Carolyn Jons, Alexander Prossnitz, Nah Eckman, Changxin Dong, Ashley UTZ, and Eric Appel. Ultrahigh-concentration biologic therapeutics enabled by spray drying with a glassy surfactant excipient. Science Translational Medicine. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adv6427
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