Emerging trends in pharmaceutical dosage forms

Abstract

Among the distinct routes of drug administration (e.g. oral, parenteral, transdermal, mucosal), the oral route is the most convenient and promising one, due to its noninvasiveness, ease of administration, versatility of dosage forms and the higher levels of patient compliance. Nonetheless, this route of drug delivery poses some limitations, such as low retention times in the stomach, first pass metabolism in the liver, solubility of the drug in gastrointestinal fluids, drug permeability across biological membranes and poor control over drug release that may hinder oral bioavailability of the drugs. This monograph focus on emerging trends in pharmaceutical dosage forms that are being developed to address some of these limitations. The following dosage forms are discussed: Gastroretentive Floating Drug Delivery Systems, Medicated Chewing Gums, Pulsatile Drug Delivery Systems and Self-Microemulsifying Drug Delivery Systems. For each one it is clarified the state of the art, the advantages and limitations, the parameters for evaluation of performance, the products available on the market and the regulatory considerations