Polymeric micelles based on a polyaspartamide copolymer for pulmonary delivery of beclomethasone dipropionate

Inhalation therapy allows the administration of drugs used in several pulmonary diseases able to play a local action on the specific site with a more uniform distribution of them. This type of administration presents some limitations, such as the poor solubility of the drug in biological fluids and the presence of mucus on lung tissue that hinders the absorption of the drugs1. To allow efficient administration of drugs in the treatment of asthma and COPD, polymeric micelles based on polyaspartammide (PHEA) copolymer, PHEA-PEG2000-EDA-LA (PPE-LA), containing beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP), a poorly soluble drug in aqueous solution, have been prepared. PHEA-PEG2000- EDA-LA is a amphiphilic copolymer bearing hydrophilic moieties represented by PEG2000 and ethylenediamine (EDA), whose amino groups increase the reactivity of the copolymer versus the subsequent nucleophilic reaction, and a hydrophobic portion represented by lipoic acid (LA), having antioxidant properties, interesting in a possible application of the PPE-LA micelles in asthma treatments, that was partially linked to amino groups of EDA.