Polysaccharide nanoparticles for oral controlled drug delivery: the role of drug–polymer and interpolymer interactions

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The oral route still represents the most popular way of administering drugs; nowadays oral administration faces new challenges, in particular with regards to the delivery of APIs that are poorly absorbed and sensitive to degradation such as macromolecules and biotechnological drugs. Nanoparticles are promising tools for the efficient delivery of these drugs to the gastrointestinal tract.

Areas covered:Approaches and techniques for the formulation of drugs, with particular focus on the preparation of polysaccharide nanoparticles obtained by non-covalent interactions.

Expert opinion:Polysaccharide-based nanoparticulate systems offer the opportunity to address some of the issues posed by biotechnological drugs, as well as by small molecules, with problems of stability/intestinal absorption, by exploiting the capability of the polymer to establish non-covalent bonds with functional groups in the chemical structure of the API.

This area of research will continue to grow, provided that these drug delivery technologies will efficaciously be translated into systems that can be manufactured on a large scale under GMP conditions. Industrial scale-up represents the biggest obstacle to overcome in view of the transformation of very promising results obtained on lab scale into medicinal products. To do that, an effort toward the simplification of the process and technologies is necessary.

KEYWORDS:

• Alginate
• chitosan
• controlled release
• drug-polymer interaction
• interpolymer complex
• microparticles
• nanoparticles
• oral delivery
• polyelectrolyte complex

Article highlights

• Nanoparticles by drug–polymer interaction, the basic tool for improving oral bioavailability based on physico-chemical drug characteristics at physiological pH

• Protein-based nanoparticle, where proteins are not only active ingredients

• Techniques for industrial production of nanoparticles, the key aspect in medicinal product development

• Where should we go to speed up the industrial scale-up and make available new and more effective medicine for patients ?

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no 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. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.