Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 22, Issue 17, 2016

Inhalation of aerosolized pharmaceuticals is a non-invasive and convenient method of drug delivery typically used for local treatment of lung diseases. Large absorption area of the pulmonary region opens up the possibility of fast and effective transfer of inhaled medicines to the circulation in order to obtain systemic effects. This review is devoted to selected albeit essential challenges of targeting aerosolized drug Read More

The deep lungs provide an efficient pathway for drugs to transport into the systemic circulation, as the extremely large surface area and thin epithelial membrane enable rapid drug transport to the blood stream. To penetrate into the deep lungs, aerosol particles with aerodynamic diameters of 1-3 μm are optimal. Large porous hollow particles (LPHPs) can achieve this aerodynamic size range through enhanced por Read More

Background: Over the past few decades, the field of nanotechnology has led to significant advances in healthcare, impacting both diagnosis and therapy. Systemic delivery of therapeutics via inhalation route has also advanced with the use of sub micron particles as colloidal drug carriers. Use of inhalable nanocarriers for delivering drugs systemically offers additional degree of control and manipulation, thereby maximizing the Read More

This review gives a short overview on the widespread use of nanostructured and nanocomposite materials for disease diagnostics, drug delivery, imaging and biomedical sensing applications. Nanoparticle interaction with a biological matrix/entity is greatly influenced by its morphology, crystal phase, surface chemistry, functionalization, physicochemical and electronic properties of the particle. Various nanoparticle synthesis rou Read More

Background: The flexibility of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and their unique properties enable them to be excellent two dimensional (2D) building blocks for designing functional materials. Aerosol routes are proved to be a rational approach to fold the 2D flat GO nanosheets into 3D crumpled spheres to mitigate the restacking issue for large-scale applications, such as for drug delivery. Results: The fundamentals of gr Read More

Background: Delivery of pharmacologically active compounds to the lung for systemic effects is well known and recently has entered a new era with several products achieving regulatory approval. This review focuses on the barriers to pulmonary delivery of biologics. Methods: Lessons learned from the development of recently approved products will be reviewed to shed light on the current challenges that are faced wh Read More

Background: The use of non-invasive inhaled aerosols for pulmonary drug delivery continues to grow. This is due to the many unique advantages this delivery route offers for the treatment of both local and systemic diseases. The physicochemical properties of the formulated drugs as well as the physiology of the lungs play a key role in both the deposition and absorption of the particles. The airway and the alveolar epithelium Read More

Background: Systemic pulmonary delivery is considered to have advantages over oral or intravenous administration for certain drugs. Methods: In this article, we review the effects of intrinsic drug properties and drug loading carriers on the pharmacokinetic parameters of inhaled drugs in the context of use in systemic pulmonary delivery. Results: The delivery of drugs via inhalation can be advisable to achieve a fast onset of ac Read More

Delivery to the lungs is an efficient way to deliver drugs directly to the site of action or to the blood circulation. Because of limitations of direct administration of free drugs, particulate drug delivery systems such as DPI formulations based on nanoparticles (NPs) have been of interest for pulmonary drug delivery. The prolonged residence of NPs in the lungs due to ability to escape from the clearance mechanisms such as Read More

In the past century, vaccines have contributed to a significant improvement in global public health by preventing a number of infectious diseases. Despite this, the vaccine field is still facing challenges related to incomplete vaccine coverage and persistent difficult vaccine targets, such as influenza, tuberculosis, and Ebola, for which no good universal vaccines exist. At least two pharmaceutical improvements are expected t Read More

Pulmonary infections may be fatal especially in immunocompromised patients and patients with underlying pulmonary dysfunction, such as those with cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, etc. According to the WHO, lower respiratory tract infections ranked first amongst the leading causes of death in 2012, and tuberculosis was included in the top 10 causes of death in low income countries, placing a consider Read More

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) ranks alongside the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as cause of death due to an infectious disease. Recently, host-targeted therapies (HDT) have gained attention as a means to shorten the course of treatment of drug-sensitive TB, improve treatment outcomes of drug-resistant TB and generally improve the efficacy and preserve or restore lung architecture of TB patients. It has been s Read More