A programmable drug delivery system for oral administration

Advances in Oral Drug Delivery

The oral route is the most common route for drug administration. It is the most preferred route, due to its advantages, such as non-invasiveness, patient compliance and convenience of drug administration. Various factors govern oral drug absorption including drug solubility, mucosal permeability, and stability in the gastrointestinal tract environment. Attempts to overcome these factors have focused on understanding the physicochemical, biochemical, metabolic and biological barriers which limit the overall drug bioavailability. Different pharmaceutical technologies and drug delivery systems including nanocarriers, micelles, cyclodextrins and lipid-based carriers have been explored to enhance oral drug absorption. To this end, this review will discuss the physiological, and pharmaceutical barriers influencing drug bioavailability for the oral route of administration, as well as the conventional and novel drug delivery strategies. The challenges and development aspects of pediatric formulations will also be addressed.

Mucoadhesive Multiparticulate Drug Delivery Systems: An Extensive Review of Patents

Innovations in pharmaceutical research are striving for designing newer drug therapies to eradicate deadly diseases. Strategies for such inventions always flourish with keys and objectives of minimal adverse effects and effective treatment. Recent trends in pharmaceutical technology specify that mucoadhesive drug delivery system is particularly appropriate than oral control release, for getting local systematic delivery of drugs in GIT for an extended interval of time at a predetermined rate. However, it is somehow expensive and unpleasant sensation for some patients, but still it is needful for getting short enzymatic activity, simple administration without pain and evasion of fast pass metabolism. Usually the vehicles employed in drug delivery of mucoadhesive system have a significant impact that draws further attention to potential benefits like improved bioavailability of therapeutic agents, extensive drug residence time at the site of administration and a comparatively faster drug uptake into the systemic circulation. The drug release from mucoadhesive multiparticulates is contingent on several types of factors comprising carrier need to produce the multiparticles and quantity of medication drug contained in them. Mucoadhesion is characterized by selected theories and mechanisms. Various strategies emergent in mucoadhesive multiparticulate drug delivery system (MMDDS) by in-vitro as well as ex-vivo description and characterization are also critically discussed. Apart from these, the primary focus during this review is to highlight current patents, clinical status, and regulatory policy for enhancement of mucoadhesive multi-particulate drug delivery system in the present scenario.

Gastroretentive microparticles for drug delivery applications

Many strategies have been proposed to explore the possibility of exploiting gastroretention for drug delivery. Such systems would be useful for local delivery, for drugs that are poorly soluble at higher pH or primarily absorbed from the proximal small intestine. Generally, the requirements of such strategies are that the vehicle maintains controlled drug release and exhibits prolonged residence time in the stomach. Despite widespread reporting of technologies, many have an inherent drawback of variability in transit times. Microparticulate systems, capable of distributing widely through the gastrointestinal tract, can potentially minimise this variation. While being retained in the stomach, the drug content is released slowly at a desired rate, resulting in reduced fluctuations in drug levels. This review summarises the promising role of microencapsulation in this field, exploring both floating and mucoadhesive microparticles and their application in the treatment of Helicobacter pylori, highlighting the clinical potential of eradication of this widespread infection.