Alternative Routes for the Delivery of Drug Molecules
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 July 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: pharmaceutical nanotechnology; nanosized drug delivery carriers; nanovesicles; targeted drug and gene delivery; pharmacokinetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: dermal; transdermal drug delivery; polymer; lipid and inorganic nanoparticles for drug delivery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: extrusion; spheronization; nanoparticles for drug delivery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The search for smarter, safer, and more patient-friendly drug delivery strategies is reshaping pharmaceutical research. While oral administration dominates for its convenience, it often suffers from low bioavailability due to degradation, poor solubility, and first-pass metabolism. Injectable delivery can bypass these issues but is invasive, sometimes painful, and may require professional supervision—factors that can limit patient adherence.
Alternative routes—such as transdermal, nasal, buccal, sublingual, pulmonary, ophthalmic, and rectal—offer exciting opportunities to overcome these limitations. They can enable rapid onset of action, targeted delivery, sustained release, and improved patient comfort, while avoiding gastrointestinal degradation and first-pass metabolism. Advances in nanotechnology, biomaterials, and formulation science are enabling innovative carriers, including nanoparticles, dendrimers, microneedles, hydrogels, and cubosomes, capable of enhancing drug stability, permeability, and site-specific delivery.
Yet, these innovative strategies come with their own set of challenges: physiological barriers, variability in absorption, stability concerns, and complex regulatory requirements. Tackling these issues calls for truly interdisciplinary research bridging pharmaceutical technology, materials science, and clinical practice.
For this Special Issue of Molecules, we invite original research and comprehensive reviews on alternative drug delivery pathways, aiming to showcase the latest breakthroughs, address existing challenges, and highlight the future of patient-centered therapeutics.
Prof. Dr. Denitsa Momekova
Dr. Christina Voycheva
Guest Editors
Dr. Teodora Popova
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- transdermal
- nasal
- pulmonary
- ophthalmic
- liposomes
- dendrimers
- microneedles
- cubosomes
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