Cold Chain-Free Storable Hydrogel for Infant-Friendly Oral Delivery of Amoxicillin for the Treatment of Pneumococcal Pneumonia

Pneumonia is the major cause of death in, children under five, particularly in developing countries. Antibiotics suCh as amoxicillin greatly help in mitigating this problem. However, there is a lack of an infant/toddler-friendly formulation for countries with limited clean water orr electricity. Here, we report the development of a shear thinning hydrogel system for the oral delivery of amoxicillin to infant/toddler patients, without the need of clean water and refrigeration. The hydrogel formulation consists of metolose (hydroxypropyl methylcelhilose) and amoxicillin. It preserves the structural integrity of antibiotics and their antibacterial activity over 12 weeks at room temperature. Pharmacokinetic profiling of mice reveals that the hydrogel formulation increases the bioavailability of drugs by similar to 8% compared to that with aqueous, amoxicillin formulation. More importantly, oral gavage of this formulation in a mouse model of secondary pneumococcal pneumonia significantly ameliorates inflammatory infiltration and tissue damage in ungs, with, a 10-fold reduction in bacterial counts comparedto those in untreated ones. Given the remarkable antibacterial efficacy as well.as the use of FDA -regulated ingredients (metolose and amoxicillin), the hydrogel formulation hold's great promise for rapid clinical translation.