Nanodrugs in Medicine and Healthcare: Oral Delivery

Oral administration is the most patient compliant route owing to minimal invasiveness, painfulness, ease-of-use, cost-effectiveness, reproducibility of the administration, and feasibility in the whole range of patient ages. A crucial component of the digestive system is the mucus that covers the gastrointestinal wall and represents the first barrier for absorption from the lumen. In addition, the gastrointestinal absorption of poorly water-soluble molecules is usually limited due to incomplete or late dissolution, resulting in low oral bio-availability. This biopharmaceutical drawback has also contributed to increased attrition rates in the drug development process, a more noteworthy phenomenon since the widening implementation of combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening. This chapter provides an overview of the nanotechnology approaches emphasizing their clinical potential and status and the limitations posed for bench-to-bedside translation. Pure drug nanoparticles are produced by top-down and bottom-up techniques and nanoparticles are usually stabilized with surfactants.