Polymer Materials for Drug Delivery and Translational Studies

Dear Colleagues,

With rapid advances in chemistry, materials sciences, and biomedical technology, the field of drug delivery has witnessed tremendous progress over the past decade. More than 357,000 publications appeared under the keyword search of “drug delivery” between 2011 and 2021. Novel materials are generated to afford new functions for pharmaceutical applications, whereas conventional materials are transformed into innovative delivery platforms.

A successful drug delivery system transports a pharmaceutical compound to its target site with a desired therapeutic effect and minimum systemic toxicity. In theory, it involves formulation, routes of administration, targeted delivery, site-specific release, and material degradation. At the translational stage, scale-up and manufacturing, stability and reproducibility, cost of goods, and ease of access are major focuses for scientists.

Critical advances in materials sciences have laid the foundation for formulation development and progress in the pharmaceutical industry. Representative polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), polyethylene glycol (PEG), 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-Poly(ethylene glycol) (DSPE-PEG), hyaluronic acid, chitosan, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), dendrimers, and amphiphiles that can self-assemble into nanoscale micelles have been extensively explored to achieve controlled and targeted drug delivery or to solubilize drugs to enhance membrane permeability and bioavailability. However, a huge gap remains between bench-top studies and clinical needs. Therefore, future studies shall focus on the design, development, and evaluation of functional materials and drug delivery systems, formulation theories in relation to therapeutic modalities, and advanced drug delivery systems for biological therapeutics with high efficiency and controlled release features.

Herein, this Special Issue of Polymers invites contributions addressing several aspects of polymeric materials for drug delivery and translational studies, such as disease-based targeted drug delivery, controlled and extended-release technologies, long-acting polymeric implants, innovative formulation and delivery device designs, delivery strategies overcoming biological barriers via conventional routes of administration, pharmacokinetic studies, and biosafety evaluation of advanced drug delivery systems.

The above list is only indicative and by no means exhaustive. Any original work or review article on the critical role of polymers or a specific type of polymers for pharmaceutical application is welcome. We hope that these contributions will address a variety of delivery platform systems including polymer conjugates, polymeric networks, hydrogels, polymer nanocomposites, multicomponent polymeric systems, and polymers for drug delivery and relevant biomedical applications.

Dr. Yao Fu
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 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. Polymers 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.

• polymer conjugates, networks, hydrogels, and implants
• polymeric nanoscale delivery systems
• polymeric delivery systems to achieve controlled and extended release
• release mechanisms and formulation theories