Abstract
The oral route is preferred by patients for drug administration due to its convenience, resulting in improved compliance. Unfortunately, for a number of drugs (e.g., anticancer drugs), this route of administration remains a challenge. Oral chemotherapy may be an attractive option and especially appropriate for chronic treatment of cancer. However, this route of administration is particularly complicated for the administration of anticancer drugs ascribed to Class IV of the Biopharmaceutical Classification System. This group of compounds is characterized by low aqueous solubility and low intestinal permeability. This review focuses on the use of cyclodextrins alone or in combination with bioadhesive nanoparticles for oral delivery of drugs. The state-of-the-art technology and challenges in this area is also discussed.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
This group of research is supported by the University of Navarra, Ministry of Science and Innovation (project SAF2008-02538), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PFIS grant, ref FI08/00527), Foundations ‘Universitaria de Navarra‘, ‘Asociación de Amigos Universidad de Navarra‘ and ‘Caja Navarra‘ (Project 10828: Nanotechnology and medicines) in Spain. 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.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.