Multilayered materials based on biopolymers as drug delivery systems

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The design of efficient therapeutic delivery devices has become a tremendously active area of research with a strong contribution from the layer-by-layer (LbL) technology. The application of this simple yet firmly established technique for the design of drug reservoirs originates a multitude of multilayered systems of tailored architecture and with a high level of control of drug administration.

Areas covered: This review will focus on the most recent and original research on LbL assemblies based on biopolymers including polysaccharides, polypeptides and proteins, with potential use in drug delivery. Herein, drug reservoirs consisting of multilayered planar films and capsules will be examined with emphasis on the ones benefiting from the non-cytotoxic and biocompatible nature of biopolymers, which are suitable to load, protect and release a high payload of toxic and fragile drugs.

Expert opinion: The combination of biopolymers with LbL technology has undergone extensive research, still, there is a multitude of R&D opportunities for the design of smart drug delivery systems with distinct multilayered morphologies, low immunological response, non-invasive drug release devices, as well as the design of theranostic systems combining diagnostics and therapeutic features. Further developments in terms of scaling towards mass production in the pharmaceutical industry are expected in the long-term.

KEYWORDS:

• Biopolymers
• capsules
• controlled drug delivery
• films
• layer-by-layer assembly
• multilayered materials

Article highlights

• Multilayered materials prepared by the LbL technology can effectively be used for the design of smart drug delivery systems with a high level of control of drug administration and targeted delivery.

• Planar multilayered devices and three-dimensional multilayered capsules are the most promising drug reservoirs.

• Biopolymers are among the most widely used components for multilayered devices applied on drug delivery.

• Biopolymers-based multilayered materials allow the controlled release of drugs, and enable the reduction of doses and side effects of more toxic ones, and the augment of the long term availability of more fragile (labile) drugs under biological fluids/environments conditions.

• Biopolymers-based multilayered films and capsules for drug delivery are not yet covered by regulatory guidelines and their scale-up production is far from being implemented.

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Declaration of interest

The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed

Additional information

Funding

This work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679 (FCT Ref. UID/CTM/50011/2013), financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC and when appropriate co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. The Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) is also acknowledged for a post-doctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/84168/2012) to C Vilela and a research contract under ‘Investigador FCT 2012’ (IF/01407/2012) to CSR Freire.