Most drugs used for leprosy treatment have low water solubility, which limits their bioavailability. [14][15][16] Accordingly, administration of high doses required for reaching therapeutic blood levels aggravate adverse effects. Poor water solubility of these drugs may also result in their variable serum concentration, thus increasing the likelihood of bacterial resistance. [17][18][19] Additionally, rifampicin and clofazimine bioavailability may be limited, respectively, by stomach degradation and recrystallization depending on pH. 11,20,21 Unlike other drugs, minocycline is highly water soluble, its major limitation being intestinal permeability. 22 New formulations have been proposed for leprosy therapy to address these problems. This article aims to highlight the recent advances in drug delivery systems, which may be utilized to overcome these hurdles.
Innovative pharmaceutical strategies towards enhancement of therapeutic efficacyRecent advances in drug delivery systems may overcome solubility impairment, common in pharmaceutical development. 23 The oral formulations proposed for multidrug therapy drugs are focused on two main strategies: increasing the apparent drug water solubility or modifying the drug release.Figure 1 summarizes the improvements and the expected results of multidrug therapy innovative formulations. In vitro evaluation, in vivo, and in silico performances of these preparations are provided in Table 1, if available, showing their potential therapeutic efficacy. As the following steps,