Drug Delivery
MannKind Announces First Patient Enrolled in INHALE-1 Study of Afrezza in Pediatric Population
MannKind Corporation recently announced the enrollment of the first pediatric patient in the INHALE-1 study. The multi-center study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of….
InMed Pharmaceuticals Announces Commencement of Phase 2 Clinical Trial Investigating Cannabinol (CBN), a Rare Cannabinoid, in the Treatment of Epidermolysis Bullosa
InMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. recently announced it has commenced its Phase 2 clinical trial of INM-755 (cannabinol) cream in the treatment of Epidermolysis Bullosa (“EB”). This marks the first time….
Starton Therapeutics Announces Successful Results in STAR-LLD Toxicology Study: No Myelosuppression & Excellent Tolerability
Starton Therapeutics Inc. recently announced the results of a preclinical toxicology study for STAR-LLD. STAR-LLD is a continuous delivery system of lenalidomide in development for…
DRUG DELIVERY - CAPRO(TM): A New Advance in Polymeric Drug Delivery
Bob Wieden and Chun Wang, PhD, discuss how significant challenges, coupled with the complexity and diversity of new pharmaceuticals, have fueled the development of a novel polymeric drug delivery platform that overcomes a great many bioavailability and delivery obstacles.
DEVICE DEVELOPMENT - Selecting Drug Delivery Systems for Higher Doses, Higher Viscosities & Lower Risk
Nicolas Bralet and Megan Lan, MBA, MA, discuss how companies can de-risk their device selection as they bring this new generation of high-volume, high-viscosity biologics to market.
SYRINGE PLUNGER - Exploring How the Functional Properties of the PremiumCoat® 1-3-mL Plunger Facilitate its Implementation on Filling Lines & Enable the Delivery of Sensitive Vaccines & Biotech Drugs
Sebastien Cordier, Laure-Hélène Guillemot, PhD, and Audrey Chardonnet explain how the PremiumCoat 1-3-mL syringe plunger combines a pure Bromobutyl formulation with a market-proven ETFE film that acts as a barrier to limit the transfer of rubber leachables into the drug product.
HUMAN FACTORS STUDIES - Human Factors Studies During a Pandemic: How One Company Adapted to Covid-19 Restrictions
Miranda Newbery says although it is possible to carry out use risk assessments, expert reviews and device comparisons – which do not require contact with end users – these cannot fully replace first-hand user feedback.
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW - Croda: Solutions for Your High Value Drug Products
Dr. Stephen Rumbelow, Life Sciences Research Fellow for Croda Inc., discusses polysorbates, a key excipient used for stabilizing drug molecules in injectable dosage forms.
CONNECTED DELIVERY - Five Perspectives on Connected Drug Delivery Devices
George I’ons offers insight into the factors driving the development and adoption of connected drug delivery devices and examines the varying perspectives held by relevant healthcare stakeholders.
DRUG DEVELOPMENT - Simplifying the Drug Development Journey
Fran DeGrazio explains how experienced and focused collaborators can provide guidance, support services, manpower, and intellect to make it easier to achieve all the goals needed in delivering a drug to a patient.
Evelo Biosciences Announces Positive Phase 2 Clinical Data With EDP1815 in Psoriasis
Evelo Biosciences, Inc. recently announced positive data from its Phase 2 study evaluating EDP1815 versus placebo for the treatment of mild and moderate psoriasis. A statistically significant reduction in the….
Daré Bioscience Initiates Phase 1/2 Clinical Study of DARE-VVA1, Intravaginal Tamoxifen for the Treatment of Vulvar & Vaginal Atrophy
Daré Bioscience, Inc. recently announced the initiation of a Phase 1/2 clinical study of DARE-VVA1, a novel intravaginal tamoxifen product being developed for the treatment…
First Wave BioPharma Begins Patient Screening for Phase 2b Clinical Trial Evaluating Niclosamide in Patients With Ulcerative Proctitis & Ulcerative Proctosigmoiditis
First Wave BioPharma, Inc. recently announced it has begun screening patients for enrollment in a Phase 2b clinical trial investigating a topical formulation of FW-UP…
BioXcel Therapeutics to Highlight Novel Approaches in AI-Based Drug Candidate Discovery & Development & Advances in Neuroscience Portfolio
BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. recently hosted a virtual R&D Day that discussed new applications of the artificial intelligence ecosystem to augment and accelerate its drug candidate…
BD Completes Study Investigating Performance of Glass Prefillable Syringes (PFS) in Deep Cold Storage
BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, completed a preliminary study investigating the impact of deep cold storage (-20°C…
Credence MedSystems Secures $39.9 Million Financing to Enable Scaling of Innovative Drug Delivery & Connected Health Systems
Credence MedSystems, Inc. recently announced it has closed a funding round with gross proceeds of $39.9 million. Sources of funding include strategic investments from Novartis Pharma AG,….
Carrick Therapeutics Debuts Data for First-In-Class Oral CDK7 Inhibitor Samuraciclib
Carrick Therapeutics recently presented encouraging initial clinical data on samuraciclib (CT-7001), an oral and first-in-class inhibitor of CDK7, at the 2021 European Society of Medical…
Micropore Technologies Announced as a Winner in Heathrow Airport’s Global Britain Business Champion Competition
Micropore Technologies is a global business that has spent many hundreds of hours travelling across the world from London’s Heathrow Airport over recent years. This…
Evelo Biosciences Announces Issuance of US Patent for Pharmaceutical Compositions of Single Strains of Naturally Occurring Bacteria as Medicines
Evelo Biosciences, Inc. recently announced the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a new composition of matter patent (No. 11,090,341) for medicines comprising pharmaceutical…
PolyPid Announces Positive Preclinical Data of its Intra-Tumoral OncoPLEX in Brain Cancer
PolyPid Ltd. recently announced positive preclinical data in two key Glioblastoma Multiform (GBM) animal models of its OncoPLEX intra-tumoral cancer therapy program. OncoPLEX utilizes the…
What are Drug Delivery Systems?
Drug delivery systems are engineered technologies for the targeted delivery and/or controlled release of therapeutic agents. The practice of drug delivery has changed significantly in the past few decades and even greater changes are anticipated in the near future. Drug delivery includes but is not limited to oral delivery, gene/cell delivery, topical/transdermal delivery, inhalation deliver, parenteral delivery, respiratory delivery, capsules, particle design technology, buccal delivery, etc.
The Evolution of Drug Delivery Systems
Drug delivery systems have greatly evolved over the past 6 decades. In the past 12 years specifically, there have been huge advancements in drug delivery technology. For instance, advanced medication delivery systems, such as transdermal patches, are able to deliver a drug more selectively to a specific site, which frequently leads to easier, more accurate, and less dosing overall. Devices such as these can also lead to a drug absorption that is more consistent with the site and mechanism of action. There are other drug delivery systems used in both medical and homecare settings that were developed because of various patient needs and researchers continue to develop new methods.
Drug Delivery System Market Size
The pharmaceutical drug delivery market size is studied on the basis of route of administration, application, and region to provide a detailed assessment of the market. On the basis of route of administration, it is segmented into oral delivery, pulmonary delivery, injectable delivery, nasal delivery, ocular delivery, topical delivery, and others.
The estimated global market size of drug delivery products was $1.4 trillion in 2020. Unfortunately, 40% of marketed drugs and 90% of pipeline drugs (mostly small molecules) are poorly soluble in water, which makes parenteral, topical, and oral delivery difficult or impossible. In relation, poor solubility often leads to low drug efficacy. Add in the fact that many other hurdles exist in the form of drug loading, stability, controlled release, toxicity, and absorption – it’s not hard to understand the difficulties in bringing new drug products to market. Additionally, biopharmaceuticals (proteins, peptides, nucleic acids, etc) and combination drug products possess many of these same problematic obstacles that affect efficacy. These challenges, coupled with the complexity and diversity of new pharmaceuticals, have fueled the development of a novel drug delivery platforms that overcome a great many bioavailability and delivery obstacles. By leveraging these platforms, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies can improve dosing accuracy, efficacy, and reproducibility in their drug discovery and drug delivery research.
Drug Delivery System Demand
The demand for pharmaceutical products worldwide is only going to increase in the coming years, as old and emerging diseases continue to threaten the well-being of people globally. Drug discovery efforts are expected to intensify, generating a large variety of active compounds with vastly different structures and properties. However, it is well known that despite tremendous output of the drug discovery process, the success rate of a candidate compound becoming an approved drug product is extremely low. The majority of candidate compounds are discarded due to various hurdles in formulation and preclinical testing (such as issues with solubility, stability, manufacturing, storage, and bioavailability) before even entering into clinical studies. Therefore, advances in formulation and drug delivery, especially the development of new and versatile biomaterial platforms as effective excipients, may salvage many “difficult,” otherwise triaged, drug compounds, and significantly enhance their chance of becoming viable products. Furthermore, breakthroughs in biomaterial platform technologies will also facilitate life cycle management of existing APIs through reformulation, repurposing of existing APIs for new indications, and development of combination products consisting of multiple APIs.