**5. Conclusions**

This study provides evidence of the use of keratose as an excipient for peripheral applications. The *ex vivo* results showed a potential benefit of the coating to minimize the adverse impact of vascular motion on drug mobility and favorable biological response in the pre-clinical model. Additional studies are warranted to further demonstrate the safety and efficacy profile of the keratose coating in larger animal models and longer durations. Overall, this approach has the potential to improve interventional outcomes and quality of life of millions of patients suffering with PAD.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, E.G., M.E, C.V.C., J.S. and S.K.Y.; methodology (*ex vivo*), C.V.C., R.L.G., C.S., N.F., T.R., O.W., U.C., T.C.R., S.K.Y., methodology (*in vivo*), E.G., M.E., S.K.Y., formal analysis, E.G., M.E., C.V.C., U.C., S.K.Y., data curation, E.G., M.E., C.V.C., U.C., S.K.Y.; writing—original draft preparation, E.G., J.S., S.K.Y.; writing—review and editing, all authors. funding acquisition, E.G., S.K.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was supported by the American Heart Association [#15SDG25880000] and [#16PRE27350003] and National Institute of Health [#1R15HL127596].

**Conflicts of Interest:** Saami K. Yazdani serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Advanced Catheter and has received gran<sup>t</sup> support from Advanced Catheter Therapies, Lutonix, Inc., Alucent Biomedical and Toray Industries and a consultant to Interface Biologics. Other co-authors have no conflict of interest to report.
