Abstract

Drug delivery technology has advanced significantly over >50 years, and has produced remarkable innovation, countless publications and conferences, and generations of talented and creative scientists. However, a critical review of the current state-of-the-art reveals that the translation of clever and sophisticated drug delivery technologies into products, which satisfy important, unmet medical needs and have been approved by the regulatory agencies, has - given the investment made in terms of time and money - been relatively limited. Here, this point of view is illustrated using a case study of technology for drug delivery into and through the skin and aims: [1] to examine the historical development of this field and the current state-of-the-art; [2] to understand why the translation of drug delivery technologies into products that improve clinical outcomes has been quite slow and inefficient; and [3] to suggest how the impact of technology may be increased and the process of concept to approved product accelerated.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2032-2040
Number of pages9
JournalDrug Delivery and Translational Research
Volume14
Issue number8
Early online date5 Jun 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2024

Data Availability Statement

No new data are presented in this article.

Acknowledgements

This article is based on a short oral presentation at the 2023 A.A.P.S. national meeting in Orlando, FL (USA), as part of a “Hot Topic” session entitled Drug Delivery Technology: Quo Vadis? The author co-chaired this session with Prof. K. Park of Purdue University.

Funding

Supported in part by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award (1-U01-FD006533). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by FDA/HHS, or the U.S. Government. Additional support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK) [grant EP/V047221/1].

FundersFunder number
U.S Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services1-U01-FD006533
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilEP/V047221/1
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Keywords

  • Drug delivery technology
  • Skin barrier function
  • Skin penetration enhancement – chemical
  • Skin penetration enhancement – physical
  • Topical and transdermal drug delivery
  • Topical formulations and metamorphosis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pharmaceutical Science

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