Targeted Drug Delivery

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative tool in pharmacology and pharmaceutics, enabling accelerated drug discovery, formulation optimization, and clinical translation. Machine learning, deep learning, and predictive modeling improve target identification, lead optimization, and personalized therapy. AI-driven platforms facilitate high-throughput screening, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) modeling, and nanocarrier design, reducing time, cost, and attrition rates. This review highlights the applications of AI across the drug development pipeline, from molecular discovery to regulatory submission, and discusses challenges, ethical considerations, and future perspectives in precision pharmacotherapy.

Animal-based testing is important for understanding the performance, mechanism, and translational capacities of floating tablets and in-vitro testing for stomach retention, which is the focus of the current review.  With a limited window for absorption in the upper gastrointestinal tract, drug delivery systems (FDDS) are designed to improve the residence time, bioavailability, and controlled release of medications.  The recipes that employed gas-producing agents like sodium bicarbonate and citric acid, as well as hydrophilic polymers like HPMC, carbopol, and sodium alginate, demonstrated exceptional floating properties with a lag time of less than 12 hours. In vitro research studies showed sustained release profiles along the zero-order or non-Fickian kinetics, whereas in vivo testing in albino rats and rabbits showed long gastric retention and better pharmacokinetic results. Gastric safety and biocompatibility was confirmed by histopathological assessments. Direct compression was determined to have the best formulation through comparative analysis based on stable and efficient formulations compared to wet granulation. All in all, animal tests will be a critical preclinical base to determine optimal proportions of polymers, buoyancy, and release characteristics which will make floating pills safe and effective when applied to the clinical setting.

Oral administration of biologics such as peptides, proteins, vaccines, and nucleic acids is one of the most significant challenges because of enzymatic breakdown, acidic gastric environment, and low absorption in the intestines. Polymeric nanoparticle has become a potential solution to surmount these obstacles, as it provides protection of biologics, controlled release as well as increased mucosal uptake. This review will present a pharmaceutics-oriented overview of recent developments in polymeric nanoparticle-based oral delivery systems with particular emphasis on preclinical animal studies. The significant advances in natural and synthetic polymers, surface modification techniques including mucoadhesion, conjugation of ligands and pH- sensitive coatings and the applications in different classes of biologics are also critically examined. The animal studies show enhanced oral bioavailability, prolonged therapeutic effect and improved immune response, showing the potential of the systems as less invasive methods of administration compared to the conventional administration. Although some of these advances have been made, issues of formulation complexity, reproducibility, large-scale production and long-term safety have yet to be resolved. This review highlights the existing gaps and suggests future research to enable translation of polymeric nanoparticles in oral biologic delivery into clinical practice.

Turmeric has been reported to reduce brain volume in mice models, TB positive and intestinal inflammation in mice models. The purpose of the study was to develop and optimize the curcumin-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) by hot high-pressure homogenization method in order to increase its oral bioavailability. The optimized formulation displayed the following properties, a particle size of 165.9 nm, and high entrapment efficiency, strong zeta potential providing physical stability. Sustained release was observed in vitro and in vivo pharmacokinetic analysis showed strongly increased systemic exposure and extended circulation half-life with respect to free curcumin. The study findings validate the findings that NLCs offer a potential delivery vehicle to facilitate enhanced bioavailability of poorly bioavailable bioactives and that NLCs have prospects in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical fields.

Fast-dissolving tablets (FDTs) are a new type of oral dose form that breaks down quickly in the mouth without water. They are great for kids, older adults, and people who have trouble swallowing. The goal of this study was to improve the formulation of FDTs using paracetamol as a model drug. It did this by using a 3² full factorial Design of Experiments (DoE) to look at how the concentrations of superdisintegrant and binder affected important quality factors like disintegration time, hardness, friability, and drug release. Direct compression was used to make nine formulations (F1–F9), which were then tested using standard pharmacopeial assays. Using ANOVA for statistical analysis, we found that higher quantities of superdisintegrant made the tablets break down faster and release the medicine better, while the amount of binder affected how hard the tablets were. Formulation F7 (6% superdisintegrant, 2% binder) had the best profile of all, with a disintegration time of 25 seconds and 98.3% drug release. The study shows that DoE is a good way to optimize the development of strong, patient-friendly FDTs that work well.