Bone atrophy and fractures are significant health issues. Standard treatments, including cement and bone grafts, have limitations and risks. The EU-funded HYDROHEAL project will develop safe, sustainable, and cost-effective hydrogel formulations to enhance bone strength and treat fractures by using renewable biomaterials for targeted drug delivery. It will create self-solidifying hydrogels that locally release pharmaceutical ingredients upon stimulation, improving treatment efficacy, preventing infections, and accelerating healing. The project will also develop injectable hydrogel formulations combining natural substance derivatives to promote healing, monitor therapy progress, and micro- and nano-particle carriers to deliver pharmaceutical agents in response to external stimuli. This approach aligns with the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan and Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.
Bone atrophy and fractures, resulting from trauma, infections, osteoporosis, or cancer, are global health concerns. Standard care with cement and bone grafts has limitations. Synthetic polymers like polymethyl methacrylate risk leakage, spinal issues, and poor healing. Donor shortages for allogenic bone grafting and invasive procedures pose risks such as rejection and viral transmission. HYDROHEAL innovates with hydrogel formulations to address bone strength challenges by treating vertebral and alveolar fractures.
HYDROHEAL aims to develop safe, sustainable scaling, and cost-effective formulations using renewable biomaterials for targeted drug delivery, aligning closely with the EU Circular Economy Action Plan and Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. It is ready to introduce a new era in fracture therapy. The proposed self-solidifying hydrogels release active pharmaceutical ingredients locally upon external stimulation, potentially improving treatment efficacy, preventing infections, and speeding up fracture healing.
The objectives of the project are:
1. Develop novel injectable hydrogel formulations combining natural substance derivates to enhance healing, inhibit bacterial growth, and monitor therapy progress in vivo.
2. Simultaneously manufacture carriers as micro- and nano-particles, surface-functionalized to incorporate pharmaceutical agents, releaseable upon external stimuli for tailored drug release.
3. Validate safe and optimized hydrogel formulations for treating vertebral and alveolar bone fractures through in vitro and in vivo tests.
4. Demonstrate scalable and sustainable biomaterial manufacturing through safe design methods, machine learning, and predictive life cycle assessment.
5. Develop machine learning and hybrid digital modeling methods, combining adaptive design of experiments and physics-based modeling with advanced characterization techniques.
https://www.hydroheal.eu/