Noninvasive drug delivery

Abstract

Advances in biopharmaceutical technology have spawned new drug delivery devices and mechanisms. Noninvasive methods, including iontophoresis and transmucosal drug delivery, have improved treatment of certain patient population. Their use is discussed in the following paper.

Paediatric prehospital analgesia in Auckland

“…This observation that pain of injection might be a substantial reason for underuse of opiate analgesia in younger children would support the further investigation of novel non‐invasive methods of pain relief for use in the prehospital environment. There are a variety of non‐invasive drug delivery methods available; 19 however, their slower onset of action has generally discouraged interest in them for management of acute pain and none has been studied in the prehospital setting.…”

Alternative Routes to Oral Opioid Administration in Palliative Care: A Review and Clinical Summary

“…The advantages of intranasal administration are similar to those of oral transmucosal delivery of opioids including convenience, ease of administration, rapid onset of effect, and no hepatic first‐pass metabolism. Because of the high vascularity of the nasal mucosa, opioid absorption can be extremely rapid from this route [72]. Dale et al.…”

Mucoadhesive Polymers for Oral Transmucosal Drug Delivery: A Review

“…The high turnover rate is an important issue that affects drug absorption, by continually changing permeability features, demanding long-term bioadhesion of dosage forms for prolonged drug delivery; furthermore, it is important to underline that the high turnover rate makes the oral mucosa able to promptly reacting to any external insult. Compared to other transmucosal sites, oral mucosa is less susceptible to injury or damage potentially related to the drug or the excipients loaded into the transmucosal dosage forms [41].…”

“…For these reasons, new "attached" (better defined as adhesive) drug delivery systems for the local drug delivery have been developed [59]. Recent research on polymers with mucoadhesive properties has led to the development of several buccal delivery systems able to maintain a steady release of drug in the systemic circulation thanks to a closed contact with the mucosal membrane, resulting in high concentration in a local area and high drug flux through the mucosa [11][12][13][14][15][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. Because the transient spikes in drug concentration, typical in a daily multiple-dose regimen, are not present with these delivery systems, the risk of toxic side-effects is decreased [57].…”