Innovation in Formulation Development for Older People

In many cases geriatric patients constitute the main users of a medicinal product and not a special population. Even though the heterogeneity of the geriatric patient population is vast with physiological changes occurring with advanced age being diverse, the presence of multi-morbidity, disability and frailty are rather common indicating a special need for age-appropriate formulations. Dosing flexibility, swallowability and overall manageability of drug products are among the issues that have been identified as most important for this age group and thus they should drive the design of therapeutic options for the geriatric population. Pharmaceutical industry is slowly starting to respond to these challenges with an increasing number of innovative geriatric-friendly formulations that have either reached the market or are currently under development. The aim of this article is to discuss the adequacy of the available geriatric-friendly formulations to meet the special needs of this age group, placing particular emphasis on a couple of marketed medicinal products with innovative geriatric-friendly formulation technologies.