Will Innovative Drug Delivery Technology Improve the Quality of Life?
Are you tired of taking pills and injections for any kind of treatment? Treatments are incomplete without medication, but is there another way to refrain from swallowing pills and taking painful injections? Then, drug delivery technology is the answer to your question.
Take a look at what this drug delivery technology has to offer. Will drug delivery technology make traditional injections a thing of the past?
How is Drug Delivery Technology Shifting Treatment Paradigms?
You must be thinking, is there really any technology that is changing the way we are taking medication? The answer is yes. There is one. So, let’s dive in and understand the meaning of this technology and how it will change the traditional way of taking medicine.
The processes that transport medications into or across the body are known as drug delivery technology. These technologies include the method of administration, such as a tablet that is swallowed or an injected vaccination.
Drug delivery technology can also refer to how pharmaceuticals are ‘packed,’ such as in a micelle or a nanoparticle, to protect them from degradation and allow them to travel wherever they need to go in the body.
The science of medicine delivery has improved tremendously in recent decades, and many more breakthroughs are expected in the next few years.
Biomedical engineers have made significant contributions to understanding the physiological hurdles to efficient drug delivery and to the development of various new drug delivery technologies that have entered clinical practice.
It is interesting to note that the National Laboratory of Medicine of the U.S. has taken the initiative to improve the safety-efficacy ratio of old drugs using different advanced methods such as individualizing drug therapy, therapeutic drug monitoring, and dose titration. In this research, many considerable works and publications in USA and Europe have been written by Indian researchers.
Will These Innovations Revolutionize The Way Drug Delivery Technology Is Developed?
Drug delivery technology depends on the course of administration, such as oral, injectable, ocular, pulmonary, nasal, implantable, topical, or transmucosal drug delivery.
Recent innovations in drug administration technology have made therapeutic delivery safer and more efficient.
Keeping this in mind, let’s quickly buckle down to the innovations that are reshaping drug delivery technology.
3D Printing for Customizable Drug Delivery
3D printing may sound like printing some kind of 3d designs, but you will be amazed that it is a drug delivery technology.
Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is expected to be one of the most innovative pharmacy advances. Because of the potential benefits of customizing pharmaceuticals in individually tailored doses, the use of 3D printing technologies in drug delivery technology has grown tremendously in recent years.
3DP allows accurate deposition of drugs and excipients, which may result in a new perspective on drug composition, production, and use. It can range from the preclinical turn of events and clinical preliminaries to frontline medical care in the medication improvement measure.
3DP enables the potential for printing dosage forms on demand at a low cost and with ease of usage. However, the dosage and release characteristics of drug delivery devices can be easily modified by changing the geometry of the 3D design using computer-aided design (CAD), resulting in additive manufacturing (AM), which is leading to personalized medicine.
Nano Drug Delivery For the Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a serious threat to human life and health. Though conventional formulations for CVD treatment include many drug delivery mechanisms, they are still far from satisfactory due to poor water solubility, low biological efficacy, non-targeting, and drug resistance.
Nano-drug delivery technology (NDDSs) provides a new drug delivery approach for the treatment of CVDs with the development of nanotechnology, showing great advantages in solving the above problems.
However, several issues with NDDSs must be addressed, such as cytotoxicity. The new research of the National Laboratory of Medicine examined the diagnosis and treatment of CVDs in recent years.
Future potential for nano-carriers in CVD drug delivery includes gene therapy, which will bring further ideas for improving cardiovascular treatments. Furthermore, its safety was addressed in the same review.
Drug Delivery Through Men’s Skin Nestorone
It is a reversible contraceptive for males that is absorbed through the skin of the upper arms and shoulders. It is a new drug delivery technology composed of progestin and testosterone.
Its formulation is designed to reduce sperm production without affecting fertility levels when the dosage is discontinued. When applied to the skin, the gel allows to introduce the dissolved hormones into the skin, acting as a reservoir from which the hormones are diffused through the vessels under the skin.
Because the area of skin on the shoulder is large enough to receive 5 ml of gel, therefore, it is used as the application area.
Enhanze Technology for Drug Delivery
Roche-a Swiss multinational healthcare company received a drug-delivery technology license from Halozyme. The Enhanze technology developed by Halozyme is based on recombinant human hyaluronidase (RHUPH20), an enzyme that temporarily destroys hyaluronan, a chain of natural sugars in the body that aids in the diffusion and absorption of injected medicinal medicines.
Roche will utilize this drug-delivery system in the development of a clinical-stage target, and the Swiss corporation will pay an upfront fee of $25 million (€22 million) to acquire access to the technology. According to Halozyme, this method of delivery may allow for more efficient absorption via subcutaneous administration and decrease the need for multiple injections.
Inhaled Drug Delivery: Launch of Novel Drug Product
Today, companies like Broughton, a global scientific consultancy-based Contract Research Organisation (CRO), have recently presented their inhalation testing service.
Inhaled medications offer a viable alternative to conventional drug delivery methods. They function quickly, typically at modest doses, and have the potential to improve the quality of life for people suffering from respiratory disorders.
This drug delivery method uses its in-house laboratory testing facilities, analytical testing experience, and in-depth knowledge of aerosol and inhalation science to deliver a complete solution for testing, consulting, and compliance requirements.
Step into the Future of Drug Delivery Technology
Drug delivery technology is already advancing rapidly but what’s next?
The future of drug delivery technology seems to be promising with advancements in various areas such as novel medication techniques, the use of nanoparticles, ingestible injectables, 3D printing, and vaccine adjuvants.
The development of targeted drug delivery systems and nanomedicine also shows potential. The goal is to improve the efficacy and bioavailability of drugs while minimizing side effects and improving patient compliance.
New advancements in AI and machine learning techniques may impact biomedical research; they have the potential to boost drug delivery. AI can be a powerful tool for establishing structure-function links between formulation parameters and release kinetics, as well as for optimizing the performance of a drug delivery system.
With this all, drug delivery technology is expected to continue to evolve and play a crucial role in the pharmaceutical industry.
