Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a breakthrough technique that uses light to activate a drug stored in circulating red blood cells so that it is released exactly when and where it is needed.
The work, led by Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor David Lawrence in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy and joint Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, has profound implications for the field of drug delivery by using red blood cells to carry drugs and then using light to release them in precise locations. The technique, which overcomes a decades-long scientific hurdle, could drastically reduce the amount of a drug needed to treat disease and thus side effects.
Read more in the full article by Thania Benios in the UNC School of Medicine Newsroom Vital Signs