Role of novel drug delivery systems in bioavailability enhancement: at a glance

Abstract

Novel drug delivery systems (NDDS) are one of the most strategies which enable to overcome the problems related to drug bioavailability. It is the rate and extent to which a drug becomes available to the target tissue after its administration. Most of the new drugs used today have poor bioavailability and are required to be administered at higher doses because only a small fraction of the administered dose is absorbed in the systemic circulation and able to reach the target site. This results in the wastage of major amount of drug and lead to adverse effects. Pharmaceutical technology mainly focuses on enhancing the solubility and permeability of drugs with lower bioavailability. Nanotechnology is the concept used in NDDS that enables a weight reduction of drug particles accompanied by an increase in stability and improved functionality. Various approaches such as nanosuspensions, liposomes, niosomes, nanoemulsions, cubosomes, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC), cyclodextrins, phytosome etc., are used for the enhancement of bioavailability. The present review focuses on the different approaches used for bioavailability enhancement along with their advantages and disadvantages