odified chitosan, as well as solid lipids, have shown great potential in the delivery of proteins/peptidal drugs. Moreover, scientists also have used liposomes, PEGylated liposomes, niosomes, and aquasomes, among others, for peptidal drug delivery. They also have developed hydrogels and transdermal drug delivery systems for peptidal drug delivery. A receptor-mediated delivery system is another attractive strategy to overcome the limitation in drug absorption that enables the transcytosis of the protein across the epithelial barrier. Modification such as PEGnology is applied to various proteins and peptides of the desired protein and peptides also increases the circulating life, solubility and stability, pharmacokinetic properties, and antigenicity of protein. This review focuses on various approaches for effective protein/peptidal drug delivery, with special emphasis on insulin delivery.
Li, S. Kevin; Lizak, Martin J.; Jeong, Eun-Kee
Conventional pharmacokinetic methods for studying ocular drug delivery are invasive and cannot be conveniently applied to humans. The advancement of MRI technology has provided new opportunities in ocular drug-delivery research. MRI provides a means to non-invasively and continuously monitor ocular drug-delivery systems with a contrast agent or compound labeled with a contrast agent. It is a useful technique in pharmacokinetic studies, evaluation of drug-delivery methods, and drug-delivery de...
Christophersen, Philip Carsten; Fano, Mathias; Saaby, Lasse; Yang, Mingshi; Nielsen, Hanne Mørck; Mu, Huiling
Oral drug delivery is a preferred route because of good patient compliance. However, most peptide/ protein drugs are delivered via parenteral routes because of the absorption barriers in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract such as enzymatic degradation by proteases and low permeability acrossthe biological membranes. To overcome these barriers, different formulation strategies for oral delivery of biomacromolecules have been proposed, including lipid based formulations and polymer-based particulate drug delivery systems (DDS). The aim of this review is to summarize the existing knowledge about oral delivery of peptide/protein drugs and to provide an overview of formulationand characterization strategies. For a better understanding of the challenges in oral delivery of peptide/protein drugs, the composition of GI fluids and the digestion processes of different kinds of excipients in the GI tract are summarized. Additionally, the paper provides an overview of recent studies on characterization of solid drug carriers for peptide/protein drugs, drug distribution in particles, drug release and stability in simulated GI fluids, as well as the absorption of peptide/protein drugs in cell-based models. The use of biorelevant media when applicable can increase the knowledge about the quality of DDS for oral protein delivery. Hopefully, the knowledge provided in this review will aid the establishment of improved biorelevant models capable of forecasting the performance of particulate DDS for oral peptide/protein delivery.
Breitkreutz, Jörg; Boos, Joachim
Paediatric drug delivery is a major challenge in drug development. Because of the heterogeneous nature of the patient group, ranging from newborns to adolescents, there is a need to use appropriate excipients, drug dosage forms and delivery devices for different age groups. So far, there is a lack of suitable and safe drug formulations for children, especially for the very young and seriously ill patients. The new EU legislation will enforce paediatric clinical trials and drug development. Current advances in paediatric drug delivery include interesting new concepts such as fast-dissolving drug formulations, including orodispersible tablets and oral thin strips (buccal wafers), and multiparticulate dosage forms based on mini-tabletting or pelletization technologies. Parenteral administration is likely to remain the first choice for children in the neonatal period and for emergency cases. Alternative routes of administration include transdermal, pulmonary an