Drug Stability: Factors and New Approaches to Overcome Drug Instability

Dear Colleagues,

The stability of drugs and drug formulations is of great importance for both the efficacy and safety of therapy. Various factors can influence drug stability, either during production and storage (temperature, light etc.) or in physiological conditions (pH, enzymes etc.). The estimation of these factors and the processes that they induce (polymorphism, photolysis, oxidation, hydrolysis etc.) is essential for their avoidance. At present, with the advancement of analytical methods, it is possible to accurately determine the degradation products of biologically active substances. It should be emphasized that the evaluation of drug stability and the search for new approaches to improve it is an important stage in the development of drug products. Specifically, the development of new drug delivery systems that are able to stabilize the incorporated drug in body fluids is one of the challenges faced by modern pharmaceutical research.

This Special Issue aims to present new data on the stability of both well-known active pharmaceutical ingredients and new substances, including those from natural sources. Furthermore, this Issue will collect research articles reporting different methods for improvement of drug stability like complexation, coating and development of new drug delivery systems. Special focus will be given to nanosized drug delivery systems, particularly nanoparticles, liposomes, amphiphilic micelles, nanogels, nanoemulsions etc. We will also appreciate additional investigations on drug stability in two- and three-dimensional cell systems, as well as in vivo models.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: in vitro (production, storage, tests with cell systems) and in vivo (in physiological fluids) drug stability; physical, chemical or microbial instability of drug/drug products; drug formulations with improved stability (complexes, coated forms, micro- and nanosized drug delivery systems).

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Krassimira Yoncheva
Dr. Maya Zaharieva
Guest Editors

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