Action photo of nasal spray on a black background

Drug delivery refers to approaches, formulations, manufacturing techniques, storage systems, and technologies involved in transporting a

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

compound to its target site to achieve a desired

therapeutic effect Therapeutic effect refers to the response(s) after a treatment of any kind, the results of which are judged to be useful or favorable. This is true whether the result was expected, unexpected, or even an unintended consequence. An adverse effect (i ...

. Principles related to drug preparation,

route of administration A route of administration in pharmacology and toxicology is the way by which a medication, drug, fluid, poison, or other substance is taken into the body. Routes of administration are generally classified by the location at which the substance i ...

, site-specific targeting,

metabolism Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...

, and

toxicity Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

are used to optimize

efficacy Efficacy is the ability to perform a task to a satisfactory or expected degree. The word comes from the same roots as ''effectiveness'', and it has often been used synonymously, although in pharmacology a pragmatic clinical trial#Efficacy versu ...

and safety, and to improve patient convenience and compliance. Drug delivery is aimed at altering a drug's

pharmacokinetics Pharmacokinetics (from Ancient Greek ''pharmakon'' "drug" and ''kinetikos'' "moving, putting in motion"; see chemical kinetics), sometimes abbreviated as PK, is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to determining the fate of substances administered ...

and specificity by formulating it with different

excipient An excipient is a substance formulated alongside the active ingredient of a medication, included for the purpose of long-term stabilization, bulking up solid formulations that contain potent active ingredients in small amounts (thus often referred ...

drug carrier A drug carrier or drug vehicle is a substrate used in the process of drug delivery which serves to improve the selectivity, effectiveness, and/or safety of drug administration. Drug carriers are primarily used to control the release of drugs int ...

s, and

medical device A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...

s. There is additional emphasis on increasing the

bioavailability In pharmacology, bioavailability is a subcategory of absorption and is the fraction (%) of an administered drug that reaches the systemic circulation. By definition, when a medication is administered intravenously, its bioavailability is 100%. Ho ...

and

duration of action Pharmacodynamics (PD) is the study of the biochemical and physiologic effects of drugs (especially pharmaceutical drugs). The effects can include those manifested within animals (including humans), microorganisms, or combinations of organisms (for ...

of a drug to improve therapeutic outcomes. Some research has also been focused on improving safety for the person administering the medication. For example, several types of microneedle patches have been developed for administering vaccines and other medications to reduce the risk of

needlestick injury A needlestick injury is the penetration of the skin by a hypodermic needle or other sharp object that has been in contact with blood, tissue or other body fluids before the exposure. Even though the acute physiological effects of a needlestick i ...

. Drug delivery is a concept heavily integrated with

dosage form Dosage forms (also called unit doses) are pharmaceutical drug products in the form in which they are marketed for use, with a specific mixture of active ingredients and inactive components (excipients), in a particular configuration (such as a ca ...

and

, the latter sometimes being considered part of the definition. While route of administration is often used interchangeably with drug delivery, the two are separate concepts. Route of administration refers to the path a drug takes to enter the body, whereas drug delivery also encompasses the engineering of delivery systems and can include different dose forms and devices used to deliver a drug through the same route. Common routes of administration include

oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or or ...

parenteral A route of administration in pharmacology and toxicology is the way by which a drug, fluid, poison, or other substance is taken into the body. Routes of administration are generally classified by the location at which the substance is applied. ...

(injected), sublingual,

topical A topical medication is a medication that is applied to a particular place on or in the body. Most often topical medication means application to body surfaces such as the skin or mucous membranes to treat ailments via a large range of classes ...

transdermal Transdermal is a route of administration wherein active ingredients are delivered across the skin for systemic distribution. Examples include transdermal patches used for medicine delivery. The drug is administered in the form of a patch or ointme ...

, inhaled,

rectal The rectum is the final straight portion of the large intestine in humans and some other mammals, and the gut in others. The adult human rectum is about long, and begins at the rectosigmoid junction (the end of the sigmoid colon) at the le ...

, and

vaginal In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hyme ...

, however drug delivery is not limited to these routes and there may be several ways to deliver medications through each route. Since the approval of the first controlled-release formulation in the 1950s, research into new delivery systems has been progressing, as opposed to new

drug development Drug development is the process of bringing a new pharmaceutical drug to the market once a lead compound has been identified through the process of drug discovery. It includes preclinical research on microorganisms and animals, filing for re ...

which has been declining. Several factors may be contributing to this shift in focus. One of the driving factors is the high cost of developing new drugs. A 2013 review found the cost of developing a delivery system was only 10% of the cost of developing a new pharmaceutical. A more recent study found the median cost of bringing a new drug to market was $985 million in 2020, but did not look at the cost of developing drug delivery systems. Other factors that have potentially influenced the increase in drug delivery system development may include the increasing prevalence of both chronic and

infectious An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

diseases, as well as a general increased understanding of the

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

, pharmacokinetics, and

pharmacodynamics Pharmacodynamics (PD) is the study of the biochemical and physiologic effects of drugs (especially pharmaceutical drugs). The effects can include those manifested within animals (including humans), microorganisms, or combinations of organisms (fo ...

of many drugs.

Current efforts

Current efforts in drug delivery are vast and include topics such as controlled-release formulations, targeted delivery,

nanomedicine Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology. Nanomedicine ranges from the medical applications of nanomaterials and BioBrick, biological devices, to Nanoelectronics, nanoelectronic biosensors, and even possible future applicatio ...

, drug carriers,

3D printing 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...

, and the delivery of biologic drugs.

Targeted delivery

Targeted drug delivery Targeted drug delivery, sometimes called smart drug delivery, is a method of delivering medication to a patient in a manner that increases the concentration of the medication in some parts of the body relative to others. This means of delivery is la ...

is the delivery of a drug to its target site without having an effect on other tissues. Interest in targeted drug delivery has grown drastically due to its potential implications in the treatment of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

s and other chronic diseases. In order to achieve efficient targeted delivery, the designed system must avoid the host's defense mechanisms and circulate to its intended site of action. A number of drug carriers have been studied to effectively target specific tissues, including liposomes,

nanogel A nanogel is a polymer-based, crosslinked hydrogel particle on the sub-micron scale. These complex networks of polymers present a unique opportunity in the field of drug delivery at the intersection of nanoparticles and hydrogel synthesis. Nanogels ...

s, and other

nanotechnologies Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and Supramolecular complex, supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particul ...

Controlled-release formulations

Controlled or modified-release formulations alter the rate and timing at which a drug is liberated, in order to produce adequate or sustained drug concentrations. The first controlled-release (CR) formulation that was developed was

Dexedrine Dextroamphetamine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant and an amphetamine enantiomer that is prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. It is also used as an athletic performance and c ...

in the 1950s. This period of time saw more drugs being formulated as CR, as well as the introduction of

transdermal patch A transdermal patch is a medicated adhesive patch that is placed on the skin to deliver a specific dose of medication through the skin and into the bloodstream. An advantage of a transdermal drug delivery route over other types of medicat ...

es to allow drugs to slowly absorb through the skin. Since then, countless other CR products have been developed to account for the physiochemical properties of different drugs, such as

depot injection A depot injection is a term for an injection formulation of a medication which releases slowly over time to permit less frequent administration of a medication. They are designed to increase medication adherence and consistency, especially in pa ...

s for

antipsychotic Antipsychotics, also known as neuroleptics, are a class of Psychiatric medication, psychotropic medication primarily used to manage psychosis (including delusions, hallucinations, paranoia or disordered thought), principally in schizophrenia but ...

s and

sex hormone Sex hormones, also known as sex steroids, gonadocorticoids and gonadal steroids, are steroid hormones that interact with vertebrate steroid hormone receptors. The sex hormones include the androgens, estrogens, and progestogens. Their effects ar ...

s that require dosing once every few months. Since the late 1990s, most of the research around CR formulations has been focused on implementing nanoparticles to decrease the rate of

drug clearance In pharmacology, clearance is a pharmacokinetic measurement of the volume of plasma from which a substance is completely removed per unit time. Usually, clearance is measured in L/h or mL/min. The quantity reflects the rate of drug elimination d ...

Delivery of biologic drugs

Pharmaceutical preparations containing

peptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A ...

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

antibodies An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...

genes In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

, or other biologic components often face absorption issues due to their large sizes or electrostatic charges, and may be susceptible to enzymatic degradation once they have entered the body. For these reasons, recent efforts in drug delivery have been focused on methods to avoid these issues through the use of

liposome A liposome is a small artificial vesicle, spherical in shape, having at least one lipid bilayer. Due to their hydrophobicity and/or hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, particle size and many other properties, liposomes can be used as drug deliver ...

nanoparticles A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is usually defined as a particle of matter that is between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 1 ...

fusion protein Fusion proteins or chimeric (kī-ˈmir-ik) proteins (literally, made of parts from different sources) are proteins created through the joining of two or more genes that originally coded for separate proteins. Translation of this ''fusion gene'' r ...

s, protein-cage nanoparticles and many others. Intracellular delivery of macromolecules by chemical carriers is most advanced for RNA, as known from RNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, while proteins have also been delivered into cells in vivo and DNA is routinely delivered in vitro.

References

External links