Construction of the pulmonary bio-adhesive delivery system of nintedanib nanocrystalline for effective treatment of pulmonary fibrosis

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a chronic, progressive, and fatal lung disease with a high mortality rate. Nintedanib, as a multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is widely used as the first line drug for PF patients. However, only nintedanib oral formulations are used currently in clinic and show a low drug selectivity, significant first-pass effect and low bioavailability with 4.7%, thus limiting the clinical outcome of nintedanib. In this study, nintedanib was prepared in the form of nintedanib nanocrystalline (Nib-NC) and then encapsulated with hyaluronic acid (HA) to construct a nanocrystalline-in-adhesive delivery system Nib-NC@HA with high drug loading efficacy and pulmonary bio-adhesive properties, which could avoid the first-pass effects, increase the bioavailability and reduce the systemic side effects of nintedanib. After inhalation administration of Nib-NC@HA, due to the bio-adhesive properties of HA, Nib-NC@HA could prolong the retention time of drug in the lungs and inhibit the expression of inflammation associated factors such as IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α in lung tissue, reduce the release of pro-fibrotic growth factor, and improve the lung function, thus showing enhanced anti-fibrotic effect than Nib-NC. The results suggested that Nib-NC@HA is an efficient and optimal targeted bio-adhesive delivery system for the lungs to treat pulmonary fibrosis.