Technology Trends of Drug Delivery and Development

INTRODUCTORY TEXT

Drug Delivery is one of the fastest growing healthcare sectors, with sales of drugs incorporating drug delivery systems increasing at an annual rate of 25%. By 2013, the US drug delivery market alone will be worth $34 billion.

The drug delivery industry is emerging from the shadow of the mainstream pharmaceutical industry to become an influential force. Drug delivery companies are now at the forefront of innovation and this once small niche market is now well positioned to become a major and significant driver of global pharmaceutical growth in the 21st century. Products incorporating innovative drug delivery systems hold the promise of rich rewards and exciting opportunities.

Drug delivery systems have come along way from just simple reformulation with limited application. Delivery technologies have evolved into innovative platforms that will positively impact the global pharmaceutical industry in every therapeutic category. To-date, the applications of drug delivery technologies are immense, offering unrivalled opportunities to combat diseases more effectively than ever before. Drug delivery systems can improve a product’s medicinal value by providing pharmacological superiority over conventional products on the market. Furthermore, the right drug delivery system can boost a product’s market value by reducing compliance issues, such as multiple applications, side-effects and tolerability. Drug delivery technologies have also become an integral part of a product’s life-cycle management – extending a drug’s exclusivity and profitability.

The advances in drug delivery technologies have gone hand in hand with the new era of drug discovery and development. Gene based therapies, for example, which utilize drug delivery technologies to stabilize large active protein molecules, will eventually provide novel treatments for diseases such as cancer, infectious diseases and metabolic disorders to name but a few. Additionally, new drug delivery systems including nasal sprays, extended-release oral formulations, topical creams, transdermal patches, and inhalational compounds have the capacity to expand the market for therapeutic peptides – a largely untapped pharmaceutical market with immense potential. Most of these compounds are either administered by injection only or are abandoned because of poor bioavailability and/or solubility. Novel drug delivery technologies offer new capabilities to revive the market potential for these compounds by providing new solutions to old problems. The main areas of focus include oral drug delivery, injectable delivery, transdermal and transmucosal delivery, pulmonary delivery, and drug delivery based gene therapy.

Medical practice is not the only beneficiary of these new drug delivery-based products that aim to improve drug efficacy, reduce dosing frequency, enhance patient compliance and improve on their quality of life. Developing new and improved pharmaceuticals utilizing drug delivery technologies has allowed drug delivery companies to offer viable solutions to pharmaceutical companies’ key products which face patent expiration, thus expanding product line shelf-life and sustaining revenue for these best-sellers.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-18