Challenges and Opportunities in the Delivery of Cancer Therapeutics: Update on Recent Progress

Abstract

Global cancer prevalence has continuously increased in the last decades despite substantial progress achieved for patient care. Cancer is no longer recognized as a singular disease but as a plurality of different ones, leading to the important choice of the drug administration route and promoting the development of novel drug-delivery systems (DDS). Due to their structural diversity, therapeutic cancer drugs present specific challenges in physicochemical properties that can adversely affect their efficacy and toxicity profile. These challenges are addressed by innovative DDS to improve bioavailability, pharmacokinetics and biodistribution profiles. Here, we define the drug delivery challenges related to oral, intravenous, subcutaneous or alternative routes of administration, and review innovative DDS, marketed or in development, that answer those challenges.

Role of Polymer Concentration and Crosslinking Density on Release Rates of Small Molecule Drugs

“…Conventional drug delivery systems are often limited by poor targeting and circulation times [1][2][3][4]. Recent research has demonstrated the use of controlled drug delivery systems based on nanoparticles, liposomes, hydrogels, and membranes, amongst others, to address these issues [1,4,5].…”

Polymeric long-acting drug delivery systems (LADDS) for treatment of chronic diseases: Inserts, patches, wafers, and implants

“…Delivering chemotherapeutic drugs using systemic oral or intravenous routes is the main approach of cancer treatment [194]. However, disadvantages such as systemic side effect due to the need for high dosage of chemotherapeutic drugs is a limitation of the current conventional cancer chemotherapy approach [195].…”

Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Molecular Modeling Studies of 1-Aryl-1H-pyrazole-Fused Curcumin Analogues as Anticancer Agents

“…Moreover, the biggest problem of chemotherapy chemicals is their inability to distinguish between cancer cells and normal ones, which might cause significant toxicity and side effects and limit the efficacy due to their low therapeutic index. 2 , 3 …”

“…Moreover, the biggest problem of chemotherapy chemicals is their inability to distinguish between cancer cells and normal ones, which might cause significant toxicity and side effects and limit the efficacy due to their low therapeutic index. 2,3 To overcome the shortcomings of chemotherapy in cancer treatment, recent research strategies are efforts to discover new active compounds with higher safety and efficacy profiles. Natural products have been excellent sources of medicinal agents, either by themselves or as a template for synthetic agents.…”

“…These unfavorable physicochemical or pharmacokinetic properties could lead to their limited bioavailabilities, making them unsuitable for oral administration and requiring chemical modification or formulation development to be used at their therapeutic doses. Moreover, the biggest problem of chemotherapy chemicals is their inability to distinguish between cancer cells and normal ones, which might cause significant toxicity and side effects and limit the efficacy due to their low therapeutic index. , …”