Nanotechnology for Oral Drug Delivery

Book excerpt: Nanotechnology for Oral Drug Delivery: From Concept to Applications discusses the current challenges of oral drug delivery, broadly revising the different physicochemical barriers faced by nanotechnolgy-based oral drug delivery systems, and highlighting the challenges of improving intestinal permeability and drug absorption. Oral delivery is the most widely used form of drug administration due to ease of ingestion, cost effectiveness, and versatility, by allowing for the accommodation of different types of drugs, having the highest patient compliance. In this book, a comprehensive overview of the most promising and up-to-date engineered and surface functionalized drug carrier systems, as well as opportunities for the development of novel and robust delivery platforms for oral drug administration are discussed. The relevance of controlling the physicochemical properties of the developed particle formulations, from size and shape to drug release profile are broadly reviewed. Advances in both in vitro and in vivo scenarios are discussed, focusing on the possibilities to study the biological-material interface. The industrial perspective on the production of nanotechnology-based oral drug delivery systems is also covered. Nanotechnology for Oral Drug Delivery: From Concept to Applications is essential reading for researchers, professors, advanced students and industry professionals working in the development, manufacturing and/or commercialization of nanotechnology-based systems for oral drug delivery, targeted drug delivery, controlled drug release, materials science and biomaterials, in vitro and in vivo testing of potential oral drug delivery technologies. Highlights the relevance of oral drug delivery in the clinical setting Covers the most recent advances in the field of nanotechnology for oral drug delivery Provides the scientific community with data that can facilitate and guide their research