Microfluidic production of drug-loaded biodegradable polymer microparticles for targeted drug delivery

<p dir="ltr">In recent years, most of the new Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) developed (e.g. Brolucizumab for macular degeneration, Romosozumab for steoporosis in postmenopausal women and Luspatercept for anemia) had either a low water solubility or a low membrane permeability (i.e. the ability to cross a biological membrane) which compromised both their bioavailability (i.e. the fraction of the drug from the initial administrated dosage that reaches the systemic circulatory system) and overall efficiency.

Because these new drugs are often more potent than those currently on the market and have the potential to save and/or improve the lives of a large number of people, much research has been done over the past 30 years to develop new Drug Delivery Systems (DDSs) that can overcome their solubility and permeability limitations.Biodegradable polymer microparticles are one such DDSs that have received a lot of attention due to their biocompatibility and tailorable size, morphology and degradation rate.