Recent Advances in Therapeutic Delivery

Dear Colleagues,

Increasing challenges are being faced by industrial and academic pharmaceutical scientists to assure the reliable performance of medicines based on recently discovered small molecule drugs and established small molecules being repurposed as innovative therapies for diseases other than those they were originally developed to treat. Molecules that do not comply with the “rule of five”, which indicates the ready developability of a compound into a viable drug product, are being advanced into the clinic. These types of compounds bring problems of very poor solubility, poor permeability through the intestinal epithelium to access the systemic circulation, poor stability, a significant extent of first-pass metabolism, and unsuitable pharmacokinetics, all of which require the application of scientific and technological expertise to assure effective clinical performance. These challenges not only apply to oral drug delivery (including modified release formulation) but also to parenteral delivery, inhaled drug delivery, and topical drug delivery. The application of lipidic formulations, amorphous dispersions, liposomal formulations, microemulsions, and nanotechnologies are among the range of technologies being developed and applied. More and more peptides and proteins, including monoclonal antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates, are advancing too, not just for parenteral dosing with the challenge of creating stable easy-to-use products, but for oral dosing also to achieve systemic delivery or topical dosing within the gastro-intestinal tract. Effective systemic therapy requires the appropriate use of permeation enhancers to enable adequate absorption of these large molecular weight, poorly absorbed compounds. Additionally, the emergence of novel vaccine modalities, cell and gene therapies requires the application of unique formulation approaches to assure the progress of these treatments into and through the clinic.

With this background in mind, I am pleased to announce a new Special Edition, “Recent Advances in Therapeutic Delivery” intended to bring together the latest research that addresses resolving drug delivery issues associated with the clinical utility of challenging new or repurposed therapeutic agents, whether small molecules, proteins, peptides, antibodies, etc. and by whatever delivery route is envisaged as appropriate for treatment of the target disease, including oral, parenteral, inhaled or topical. The Special Issue can act as a resource of current learning to help researchers understand the application of novel delivery approaches in 21st-century therapeutics. Original research articles and appropriately focused reviews are welcome, and I look forward to receiving your submissions.

Prof. Dr. Peter Timmins
Guest Editor

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