Implantable Drug Delivery Systems: An Overview

Controlled drug through diffusion and activation-based drug delivery devices have become commercially feasible due to converging technologies and regulatory accommodation. Combination products constructed using implantable technology offer revolutionary opportunities to address unmet medical needs related to dosing. These products have the potential to completely control drug release, meeting requirements for on-demand pulsatile or adjustable continuous administration for extended periods. Implantable technologies, materials science, data management, and biological science have significantly developed in recent years, providing a multidisciplinary foundation for developing integrated therapeutic systems. If smallscale biosensor and drug reservoir units are combined and implanted, a wireless integrated system can regulate drug release, receive sensor feedback, and transmit updates. The tools such as microfabrication technology, information science, and systems biology are being combined to design increasingly sophisticated drug delivery systems that promise to significantly improve medical care. area of implants leading to further studies and the demand for implantable systems will increase 14% per year, through 1998, to $5.9 billion annually. The implantable therapeutic systems are mainly approached for • long term, • continuous drug administration, and • controlled release. Ideal requirements of implantable drug delivery systems. • Environmentally stable. • Biocompatible. • Sterile. • Biostable. • Improve patient compliance by reducing the frequency of drug administration over the entire period of treatment. • Release the drug in a rate-controlled manner that leads to enhanced effectiveness and reduction in side effects. • Readily retrievable by medical personnel to terminate medication. • Easy to manufacture and relatively inexpensive. Advantages of the implantable drug-delivery system. • Improved efficiency. • Very effective. • Small dose is sufficient to elicit the action. For example, progesterone 2–8 mg • Reduced side effects. • On-spot delivery. • Convenient therapy. • Provide linear delivery for long periods of time, from a few weeks to many months. • Plasma drug levels are continuously maintained in a therapeutically desirable range, Access this article online Website: www.sysrevpharm.org Quick Response Code: DOI: 10.4103/0975-8453.86297