Formulation and Delivery of Macromolecules

Abstract

The field of macromolecule drug development (also known in the literature as biologics, biomacromolecules, and biotechnology drugs) has sharply grown over the past 15 years (1). With a steady growth in total sales, sales per drug type (i.e., therapeutic proteins and peptides, monoclonal antibodies, or vaccines), and innovation, macromolecule drug development continues to make a strong case in contrast with small-molecule drugs (2,3). While most marketed products and clinical trials on macromolecule drugs are injectable dosage forms, there is a drive for more convenient dosage forms evidenced in the body of scientific literature, numerous clinical trials, and a handful of successful products for alternative routes of administration.While extravascular administration has been widely investigated and has shown potential, there are many difficulties associated with absorption of therapeutic macromolecules into the body. For example, oral delivery of macromolecules for intestinal absorption faces a number of well-known limitations including instability in gastric pH, proteolytic enzyme content in the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and insufficient permeation and bioavailability; therefore, encapsulation, targeted release, and novel permeation enhancers have been a focus area of research (4). With the difficulties of GI tract absorption, alternative routes of delivery have also been investigated, including buccal/sublingual, transdermal, and nasal/pulmonary. This special theme of AAPS PharmSciTech explores specific aspects in the state of the art in macromolecule delivery and showcases innovative research strategies intended to improve absorption and performance of dosage forms containing macromolecular drugs.In our review in this Themed Edition, Montenegro-Nicolini and Morales describe the major advancements in mucoadhesive films as dosage forms for buccal administration of macromolecule drugs (5). The review presents the stratified mucosal epithelium as an absorption barrier and introduces strategies to enhance macromolecule permeation. The authors identify solvent casting as the conventional choice for film development; however, recent advancements in hot melt extrusion (6) and inkjet printing (7) could provide new avenues for buccal film product development.Hot melt extrusion of solid dosage forms for macromolecule drug development has been avoided in the past due to potential drug degradation due to the high temperatures and shear achieved during the process. Nonetheless, efforts in using low-glass transition temperature polymers and optimized processing conditions have shown promise. In their article, Cossé et al. focus on systematically investigating all relevant extrusion variables as well as using a lowtemperature processing polymer (6). After suitable formulation development, the authors showed that the extruded implants were able to sustain bovine serum albumin (BSA) release for weeks while maintaining very limited conformation changes in the BSA structure.In an alternative approach for macromolecule dr...

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