RECENT ADVANCES IN MICROSPHERE FORMULATIONS

Abstract

 Traditional drug delivery systems have various drawbacks viz frequent dosing for medications with shorter half-lives in order to maintain the desired therapeutic drug plasma concentration. In addition, due to the need for frequent dosage, there are poor drug’s plasma concentration changes as a result of patient compliance. By gradually releasing the drug over a prolonged period of time, controlled drug delivery can maintain a steady drug plasma concentration, overcoming the drawbacks of traditional drug administration. By designing controlled drug delivery systems, the drug systemic bioavailability can be increased, improving its therapeutic efficacy and patient compliance. Among all the approaches, microspheres are more convenient as the drug is slowly released from the polymeric matrix and the polymers used are mostly biodegradable and possess no adverse effects. As a result, microspheres can be applied in a number of medical fields, including radiology, pulmonary, cardiology, diabetes, gynaecology, oncology, and vaccine therapy. The review paper mainly focuses on the different types of natural polymers, various methods of preparation techniques, their characterization and evaluation in microsphere formulation and applications.