Drug Delivery
Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals Begins Enrollment in Phase 2a Study
Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals Inc. has recently begun enrollment and has dosed its first patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc) in its Phase 2a clinical…
Daré Bioscience Announces Initiation of Phase 1 Clinical Trial of Novel Intravaginal Ring Designed to Deliver Non-oral, Bio-identical Hormone Therapy
Daré Bioscience, Inc. recently announced the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial of DARE-HRT1, designed to deliver bio-identical 17β-estradiol and bio-identical progesterone continuously over…
Oculis Announces Successful End-of-Phase 2 Meeting With the FDA
Oculis S.A. recently announced it has successfully completed an End-of-Phase 2 meeting with the US FDA for OCS-01 in two indications: for the treatment of…
Frontage Laboratories 2020 Podcast Series
Welcome to Frontage Laboratories 2020 Podcast Series. Listen to our full suite of podcasts of engaging topics from our top scientific experts.
Croda Strengthens Position in Life Sciences With Acquisition of Avanti Polar Lipids
Croda International Plc recently announced it has agreed to acquire Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc., a knowledge-intensive leader in lipid-based drug delivery technologies for next-generation pharmaceuticals…..
Don’t Miss RNA Medicine in a Pandemic Symposium on July 23!
Join us as we are hosting an RNA Symposium bringing together leading experts in RNA medicine, delivery, technology development, and solutions for manufacturing to present and discuss…
Lonza Establishes Center of Excellence for Integrated Dry Powder Inhaler Product Development Services
Lonza Pharma & Biotech recently announced the establishment of a Center of Excellence for Dry Powder Inhaler (DPI) drug product development at its Bend, OR, site…..
Sorrel Medical Opens New Manufacturing Facility, Increasing Clinical & Commercial Supply Capabilities of Wearable Drug Delivery Devices
Sorrel Medical recently announced the opening of a new manufacturing facility with state-of-the-art cleanroom facilities to accommodate manufacturing scalability of its wearable drug delivery devices. The…
IM Therapeutics Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase 1 Study of its Lead Drug for Type 1 Diabetes
ImmunoMolecular Therapeutics, Inc. recently announced the dosing of the first patient in a Phase 1 study of IMT-002, an oral small molecule drug designed as a selective….
Avadel Announces Sale of Hospital Sterile Injectable Drug Portfolio for $42 Million
Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc recently announced the sale of its portfolio of sterile injectable drugs used in the hospital setting, including three commercial products, Bloxiverz, Vazculep,…
2020 Respiratory Drug Development eBook – Inhaled Medications for Treating Unconventional Respiratory Diseases
This second annual Drug Development & Delivery Respiratory eBook focuses on a few companies that are taking inhalation devices to a new level in drug delivery.
FDA Approves First & Only Oral Somatostatin Analog for Acromegaly
Chiasma, Inc. recently announced the US FDA approved MYCAPSSA (octreotide) capsules for long-term maintenance treatment in acromegaly patients who have responded to and tolerated treatment…
Bormioli Pharma Invests in Type I Glass Vial Production for Injectable Medicines & Vaccines
The global, Covid-19 pandemic emergency has not weakened Bormioli Pharma's determination to keep on investing and supporting its customers. After the acquisition of the German…
Catalent Partners With ViralClear Pharmaceuticals on Potential Treatment for COVID-19
Catalent recently announced it has signed an agreement with ViralClear Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to work on the development of a potential treatment for adults with advanced…
Leading Pharma Packaging Companies Commit to Supply for Covid-19 Fight
The CEOs of Gerresheimer, Stevanato Group, and SCHOTT are committed to ensuring ample supply of pharmaceutical containers for any Covid-19 vaccine and treatment that is developed, and that no patient shall be left….
Bionic Sight Doses First Patient in a Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial of a New Investigational Treatment for Blindness
Bionic Sight, LLC recently announced it has dosed the first patient in the company’s Phase 1/2 clinical trial of BS01, an optogenetic gene therapy for patients with….
Nemera & Noble Announce Collaboration to Support Patients Who Self-Administer Medication
Nemera, world leader in design, development and manufacturing of drug delivery devices for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and generic industries, recently announced a collaboration with Noble….
Pfenex Announces US Commercial Launch of Teriparatide Injection
Pfenex Inc. recently announced that its commercialization partner, Alvogen, has launched Teriparatide Injection in the US. Teriparatide Injection (also referred to as PF708 and Bonsity)…
Glyscend Therapeutics Completes $20.5-Million Financing Round to Advance Novel Oral Polymer Therapy
Glyscend Therapeutics recently announced the closing of a $20.5-million Series A financing round. Healthcare investors Brandon Capital Partners, through its Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF),…
Daré Bioscience Announces Receipt of $1.5 Million Under the Current Grant Supplement Award for Continued Development of User-Controlled Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptive
Daré Bioscience, Inc. recently announced the receipt by its wholly owned subsidiary of $1.5 million in additional grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates…
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.