Synthetic membranes used in Franz diffusion cells for topical formulation quality assessment should provide least resistance to drug diffusion. In this study, the diffusion rates of ibuprofen across thirteen membranes were determined using Franz diffusion cells. Correlation of the membrane thickness, pore size and MWCO with drug fluxes was also made. The drug diffusion results showed that the p...

Marriage of cell biology (the concept of 'lysosomotropic drug delivery') and the realization that water-soluble synthetic polymers might provide an ideal platform for targeted drug delivery led to the first synthetic polymer-drug conjugates that entered clinical trials as anticancer agents. Conceptually, polymer conjugates share many features with other macromolecular drugs, but they have the a...

Non-covalent polymers have remarkable advantages over synthetic polymers for wide biomedical applications. In this study, non-covalent polymers from self-assembled boric acid were used as the capping reagent to replace synthetic polymers in drug crystallization. Under acidic pH, boric acid self-assembled on the surface of drug nanocrystals to form polymers with network-like structures held toge...

A synthetic route to an anti-cancer drug, lapatinib, was devised support the development of a sustainable manufacturing process in South Africa.