• Dr. Hidvegi,
• please give us more details what are you looking for?

I am also looking for a company that makes custom slow-release pellets. Did you ever find one? And do you have complaints about Innovative Research of America? I am trying to work with them now, and they are very difficult to reach or talk to.

Kira, we did a lot of research with products of Innovative Research of America in the past (early 2000's). Our experiments were successful, we even published it. Then after a number of years of break we ordered a few new products and an old one as a positive control. These were 3 weeks release pellets. All the treated mice died in a few hours, all the placebo pellet treated mice lived, so nothing was wrong with the surgery (subcutaneous implant). We performed autopsy, but nothing seemed to be wrong with the mice by visual observation. The implant site under the skin showed a mushy/grainy substance where the implant was supposed to be. We thought the implant got dissolved and they got the dose that was meant to be gradually delivered in 3 weeks, all at once, and that killed them. The Company said they didn't change the process of pellet making in the past, and we know our mice didn't die in the past from this same drug.

We were (unfortunately) able to reproduce this result.

It was very difficult to get a response from the Company for a while, but finally, weeks later we were able to arrange a conference call with their scientists. They made a new batch of the positive control product and gave it to us, we tried it in new mice. The animals were very unwell the first couple of days, we constantly monitored them, then they slowly recovered. We didn't wait to term to see if the drug had any effect, because that wasn't our purpose at this time.

So now we are concerned about these pellets, and lost trust in the Company, so i was trying to find an alternative. We ended up using ALZET pumps and daily oral gavage instead, but that route makes the dose somewhat limited, and there is a problem with the water insoluble drugs. It would be nice to have a slow-release pellet alternative.

Meg, i am sorry, but totally missed your response. Please, read the above answer i gave to Kira, which describes our problem. We are still looking for slow release pellet containing the drug of our choice. 3 weeks release is what we use, but sometimes we use longer. The pellets would be optimally for SC implantation using a trocar or for larger pellets, a small incision. Our experimental model is a humanized mouse line carrying a mutant human gene. they have liver disease, but other than using histology or other terminal method, they appear to be alright and live sometimes even more than 2.5 years. they also breed well (C57b6 background) and develop normally. Around a year of age most of them develop HCC or other liver cancer due to the transgene.

Please let me know, if you can help us. thanks

Tunda