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Pharmaceutics
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Smart Polymeric Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery Systems
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Smart Polymeric Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery Systems

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Delivery and Controlled Release".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 2368

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Amos O. Abioye

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Belmont University, Nashville, TN 37212, USA
Interests: rational dosage form design; oral drug delivery; transdermal drug delivery; parenteral drug delivery; extended drug release optimization; nose-to-brain drug delivery; quality by design approaches; IVIV correlation studies; smart drug delivery systems; brain-targeted nanocarriers; theranostic polymeric nanoparticles; polymeric nanomedicines; polymer-drug nanoconjugates; age-appropriate flexible dosing; pharmaceutical analysis; controlled polymeric self-assembly; quality control of medicines

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last five decades, the use of water-soluble polymers in rational drug design has rapidly evolved into valuable drug delivery strategies to enhance the safety, quality, and therapeutic efficacy of poorly soluble drugs, which constitute about 65% of the drugs in product development pipelines, particularly in categories such as anticancer drugs, psychoactive drugs, opioids, antipsychotics, antidepressants, antibiotics, etc.

However, despite the extensive research successes and continuous product developments in polymer–protein conjugates, most polymer–drug therapeutics under intensive research efforts have not yet reached the market due to multi-faceted challenges including high toxicity, poor stability, low payload, erratic pharmacokinetics (PK), poor bioavailability profiles, etc. Therefore, this Special Issue is focused on the shared insights and foresights of novel rational polymer–drug design, smart drug delivery strategies, advanced process analytical technology, quality by design approaches, controlled drug release techniques, targeted drug delivery, IVIV correlation studies, etc., for polymer therapeutics. It is envisioned that this Special Issue would proffer potential solution models to current and prospective challenges in the development of polymer therapeutics.  

Therefore, we invite original research manuscripts, systematic review articles, data depositions and short communication articles on recent advances, challenges, and prospects of polymer therapeutics in disease management.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Amos O. Abioye
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Pharmaceutics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2900 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

  • polymer therapeutics
  • polymeric nanocarriers
  • polymer–drug conjugates
  • smart drug delivery systems
  • precision-driven drug targeting
  • functionalized polymers
  • polymeric self-assembly
  • quality by design approaches
  • process optimization techniques
  • therapeutic efficacy

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

31 pages, 2891 KB  
Review
Recent Advances in Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery Strategies to Cross the Blood–Brain Barrier in Targeted Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
by Hoa Le, Giang T. T. Vu, Amos Abioye and Adeboye Adejare
Pharmaceutics 2026, 18(2), 192; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics18020192 - 1 Feb 2026
Viewed by 1766
Abstract
The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a major obstacle to the development of brain-targeted drug delivery systems, restricting greater than 98% of small molecules (<500 Da) and virtually all large-molecule drugs from entering the brain tissues from the bloodstream, resulting in suboptimal drug doses [...] Read more.
The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a major obstacle to the development of brain-targeted drug delivery systems, restricting greater than 98% of small molecules (<500 Da) and virtually all large-molecule drugs from entering the brain tissues from the bloodstream, resulting in suboptimal drug doses and therapeutic failure in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the advent of nanotechnology has provided significant solutions to the BBB challenges, enabling particle size reduction, enhanced drug solubility, reduced premature drug degradation, extended and sustained drug release, enhanced drug transport across the BBB, increased drug target specificity and enhanced therapeutic efficacy. In corollary, a library of brain-targeted surface-functionalized nanotherapeutics has been widely reported in the current literature. These promising in vitro, in vivo and pre-clinical results from the existing literature provide quantitative evidence for the relative clinical utility of each of the techniques, indicating remarkable capacity for brain-targeted carrier systems; many of them are still being tested in human clinical trials. However, despite the recorded research successes in drug transport across the BBB, there are currently no clinically proven medications that can slow or reverse the progression of AD because most of the novel therapeutics have not been successful during the clinical trials. Therefore, the main option for the treatment of AD is symptomatic treatment using cholinesterase inhibitors and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists. Although these therapies help to alleviate symptoms of AD and improve patients’ quality of life, they neither slow the progression of disease nor cure it. Thus, an effective disease-modifying therapy for the treatment of AD is an unmet clinical need. It is apparent that a deeper understanding of the structural complexity and controlling dynamic functions of the BBB in tandem with a comprehensive elucidation of AD pathogenesis are crucial to the development of novel nanocarriers for the effective treatment of AD. Therefore, this narrative review describes the contextual analysis of several promising strategies that enhance brain-targeted drug delivery across the BBB in AD treatment and recent research efforts on two major AD biomarkers that have revolutionized AD diagnosis, amyloid-beta plaques and phosphorylated tau protein tangle, as potential targets in AD drug development. This has led to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s approval of two intravenous (IV) anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies, Lecanemab (Leqembi®) and Donanemab (Kisunla®), which were developed based on the Aβ cascade hypothesis for the treatment of early AD. This review also discusses the recent shift in the Aβ cascade hypothesis to Aβ oligomer (conformer), a soluble intermediate of Aβ, which is the most toxic mediator of AD and could be the most potent drug target in the future for a more accurate and effective drug development model for the treatment of AD. Furthermore, various promising nanoparticle-based drug carriers (therapeutic nanoparticles) that were developed from intensive research are discussed, including their clinical utility, challenges and prospects in the treatment of AD. Overall, it suffices to state that the advent of nanotechnology provided several innovative techniques for overcoming the BBB and improving drug delivery to the brain; however, their long-term biosafety is a relevant concern. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Polymeric Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery Systems)
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