Patent ID: 8268357

Claim:
A process for formulating a bio active agent delivery particle, said process comprising contacting bilayer-forming lipid vesicles with a bioactive agent to form a bilayer-forming lipid vesicle-bioactive agent mixture, and contacting the bilayer-forming lipid vesicle-bioactive agent mixture with a lipid binding polypeptide, wherein said contacting of the bilayer-forming lipid vesicle-bioactive agent mixture with a lipid binding polypeptide comprises incubation of the vesicles and lipid binding polypeptide at or near the gel to liquid crystalline phase transition temperature of the bilayer forming lipids present in the lipid vesicles, to thereby form the bioactive agent delivery particle; and wherein said bioactive agent delivery particle comprises a lipid binding polypeptide, a lipid bilayer, and a non-polypeptide bioactive agent comprising at least one hydrophobic region, wherein the particle does not comprise an aqueous core; wherein the interior of the lipid bilayer comprises a hydrophobic region; wherein the bioactive agent is incorporated into the hydrophobic region of the lipid bilayer; and wherein the particle is disc-shaped with a discoidal lipid bilayer circumscribed by amphipathic α-helices and/or β sheets of the lipid binding polypeptide, which are associated with hydrophobic surfaces of the bilayer around the periphery of the particle, and wherein said lipid binding polypeptide comprises a class A amphipathic α-helix structure and/or a β sheet motif.