{"title":"Nanotherapeutics for the delivery of antifungal drugs.","authors":"Blessing Atim Aderibigbe","doi":"10.4155/tde-2023-0090","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The treatment of fungal infections is challenging with high death rates reported among immunocompromised patients. The currently available antifungals suffer from poor bioavailability and solubility, pharmacokinetics, and drug resistance, with limited cellular uptake. The clinical pipeline of new antifungals is dry. The incorporation of antifungal drugs into polymer-based nanocarriers to form nanotherapeutics is a promising approach to enhance the therapeutic outcomes of the available antifungal drugs. This review summarizes different polymer-based nanotherapeutics strategies that have been explored for the delivery of antifungals, resulting in enhanced therapeutic outcomes, such as improved pharmacokinetics, targeted/sustained delivery, prolonged drug circulation, retention of the drugs at the localized site of action, and overcoming drug resistance when compared with the free antifungal drugs.</p>","PeriodicalId":22959,"journal":{"name":"Therapeutic delivery","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Therapeutic delivery","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4155/tde-2023-0090","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The treatment of fungal infections is challenging with high death rates reported among immunocompromised patients. The currently available antifungals suffer from poor bioavailability and solubility, pharmacokinetics, and drug resistance, with limited cellular uptake. The clinical pipeline of new antifungals is dry. The incorporation of antifungal drugs into polymer-based nanocarriers to form nanotherapeutics is a promising approach to enhance the therapeutic outcomes of the available antifungal drugs. This review summarizes different polymer-based nanotherapeutics strategies that have been explored for the delivery of antifungals, resulting in enhanced therapeutic outcomes, such as improved pharmacokinetics, targeted/sustained delivery, prolonged drug circulation, retention of the drugs at the localized site of action, and overcoming drug resistance when compared with the free antifungal drugs.
期刊介绍:
Delivering therapeutics in a way that is right for the patient - safe, painless, reliable, targeted, efficient and cost effective - is the fundamental aim of scientists working in this area. Correspondingly, this evolving field has already yielded a diversity of delivery methods, including injectors, controlled release formulations, drug eluting implants and transdermal patches. Rapid technological advances and the desire to improve the efficacy and safety profile of existing medications by specific targeting to the site of action, combined with the drive to improve patient compliance, continue to fuel rapid research progress. Furthermore, the emergence of cell-based therapeutics and biopharmaceuticals such as proteins, peptides and nucleotides presents scientists with new and exciting challenges for the application of therapeutic delivery science and technology. Successful delivery strategies increasingly rely upon collaboration across a diversity of fields, including biology, chemistry, pharmacology, nanotechnology, physiology, materials science and engineering. Therapeutic Delivery recognizes the importance of this diverse research platform and encourages the publication of articles that reflect the highly interdisciplinary nature of the field. In a highly competitive industry, Therapeutic Delivery provides the busy researcher with a forum for the rapid publication of original research and critical reviews of all the latest relevant and significant developments, and focuses on how the technological, pharmacological, clinical and physiological aspects come together to successfully deliver modern therapeutics to patients. The journal delivers this essential information in concise, at-a-glance article formats that are readily accessible to the full spectrum of therapeutic delivery researchers.