Objective: Bone fracture non-union is a major clinical challenge in orthopaedic practice. In addition to surgical intervention and autologous bone grafts, bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs) have also been tested as an adjunct therapy to accelerate the healing of fractures. BMP is an expensive therapy and has not been approved by the FDA for fracture treatment, only for spinal fusion. Clearly, there is an unmet clinical need of a less expensive adjunct therapy for better clinical management of fracture non-union. As a water-soluble monomer isolated from Salviae miltiorrhizae, tanshinol has been proved to be an effective bone anabolic agent with a high therapeutic index. However, its high water solubility and lack of chemical stability, has impeded its clinical application. To address this issue, we have developed a tanshinol-loaded bone-targeting liposome formulation (Tan-BTL). The objective of this study was to examine the potential therapeutic effects of Tan-BTL on fracture repair in mice.
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