Research Insight: Drug Delivery

Abstract

Drug distribution refers to approaches, formulations, technologies, and systems for conveying a pharmaceutical compound in the body as needed to safely achieve its desired therapeutic effect. It may involve scientific site-targeting within the body, or it might involve facilitating systemic pharmaco-kinetics; in any case, it is typically concerned with both quantity and duration of drug presence. Drug distribution is often approached via a drug's chemical formulation, but it may additionally involve medical contrivances or drug-contrivance amalga-mation products. Drug distribution is a concept heavily integrated with dosage form and route of administration, the latter sometimes even being considered part of the definition.

Drug distribution technologies modify drug release profile, absorption, distribution and elimination for the benefit of ameliorating product efficacy and safety, as well as patient accomodation and compliance. Drug release emanates from: diffusion, degradation, swelling, and affinity-predicated mechanisms. Most mundane routes of administration include the preferred non-invasive per oral (through the mouth), topical (skin), trans mucosal (nasal, buccal/sublingual, vaginal, ocular and rectal) and inhalation routes. Many medications such as peptide and protein, antibody, vaccine and gene predicated drugs, in general may not be distributed utilizing these routes because they might be susceptible to enzymatic degradation or cannot be absorbed into the systemic circulation efficiently due to molecular size and charge issues to be therapeutically efficacious. For this reason many protein and peptide drugs have to be distributed by injection or a nano needle array. For example, many immunizations are predicated on the distribution of protein drugs and are often done by injection.

Current efforts in the area of drug distribution include the development of targeted distribution in which the drug is only active in the target area of the body (for example, in cancerous tissues) and sustained release formulations in which the drug is relinquished over a period of time in a controlled manner from a formulation. In order to achieve efficient targeted distribution, the designed system must eschew the host's bulwark mechanisms and circulate to its intended site of action. Types of sustained release formulations include liposomes, drug loaded biodegradable microspheres and drug polymer conjugates.

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