Current Drug Discovery Technologies - Online First

Psoriasis is a prevalent inflammatory disease affecting almost 0.5-5% of the world population. Multiple treatment approaches have been developed to manage psoriasis so far. Although concerns exist in the long-term usage of conventional and biological agents in terms of safety, effectiveness, expensiveness, and tolerability, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a promising point of view for future psoriasis management. In this study, databases including Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science were searched for relevant literature on herbal medications clinically evaluated for psoriasis, especially those originating from traditional medicine. About 40 relevant papers were selected by March 2023. Most of the studies were clinical trials on poly-herbal formulations from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). There are controversial results regarding the efficacy of these herbal formulations in psoriasis mainly due to the variation in the study design. Moreover, the probable protective mechanisms and responsible herbal metabolites of these formulations are summarized. There is a global need for more in-vitro and in-vivo studies based on the standard protocols in terms of the evaluation of the safety and efficacy of topical/ systemic herbal preparations for psoriasis.

Most of the newly discovered drug candidates are lipophilic and poorly water-soluble, making it a significant challenge for the pharmaceutical industry to formulate suitable drug delivery systems. This review gives insight into an overview of the liquisolid technique (LST) and summarizes the progress of its various applications in drug delivery. This novel technique involves converting liquid drugs or drugs in a liquid state (such as solutions, suspensions, or emulsions) into dry, non-adherent, free-flowing, and readily compressible powder mixtures by blending or spraying a liquid dispersion onto specific powder carriers and coating materials. In Liquisolid systems, the liquid medication is absorbed into the interior framework of carriers. Once the carrier's interior is saturated with liquid medication, a liquid layer forms on the surface of the carrier particles, which is instantly adsorbed by the fine coating material. As a result, a dry, free-flowing, and compressible powder mixture is formed. Compared to other solubility enhancement techniques, s.a. micronization, inclusion complexation, microencapsulation, nanosuspension, and self-nano emulsions, LST is relatively simple to prepare and may offer a cost-effective solution to enhance the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs enhancing its bioavailability in drug formulation and delivery.