A Narrative Review on Non-Invasive Drug Delivery of Teriparatide: A Ray of Hope.

In the field of pharmaceutical biotechnology and formulation development, various protein and peptide-based drugs have been used for therapeutic and clinical implications. These are mainly given via parenteral routes like intravenous, subcutaneous or intramuscular delivery. Teriparatide, also known as PTH 1-34, is a U.S. Food & Drug Administartion-approved anabolic drug to treat osteoporosis is currently available in market only as subcutaneous injection. The quest for elimination of needle in case of given peptidal delivery to replace it with alternative routes like nasal, buccal, transdermal and pulmonary pathways has driven meticulous drug research. The pharmaceutical scientists are working on innovation and approaches involving new materials and methods to develop the formulations for protein and peptides by noninvasive routes. Lately, various approaches have been carried out which involve many strategies and technologies to deliver teriparatide via alternative routes. But, physicochemical instability, proteolytic degradation, low bioavailability, etc. are some obstacles to develop suitable delivery system for teriparatide. This review intends to gather the overall developments in delivery systems specific to teriparatide which meant for better convenience and avoids vulnerability of multiple subcutaneous injections. In addition, the article emphasizes on the successes to develop noninvasive technologies and devices, and new milestones for teriparatide delivery.

Role of Cissus quadrangularis in the Management of Osteoporosis: An Overview.

This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of Cissus quadrangularis (CQ), which is a traditional medicinal herb and has a potential osteoprotective effect. CQ is a perennial climber of family Vitaceae that is commonly found in the hotter parts of India. It is most widely used in India for improving bone health and is well known as "hadjod." It shows an anti-osteoporotic effect through different pathways mechanisms. It is natural matrices of excellence with proven bioactivity. Several cell line and animal studies demonstrated its protective nature against many diseases such as osteoporosis, arthritis, gastric ulcers etc. This review also highlights the phytochemicals identified to the date and related pharmacological applications. The discussion has also expanded to its oral formulations, which has been proven for its efficacy practically. However, the scientific information of CQ is not in the proper documentation for reference, and so availability of scientific knowledge of this climber is limited. Therefore, this review might be provided a platform to those who will be interested in studying further this herb, either for analyzing phytochemical profiling or its anti-osteoporotic usage. This is a crucial platform as several productive results have been reported on this herb, which likely to be beneficial for new drug discovery in future. Here we also discuss the bone remodeling and related factors influenced by the intake of CQ.

Nail Psoriasis Treatment: Insights into Current Progress and Future Trends.

Nail psoriasis is a chronic condition which causes pain and functional impairment; thus, it restricts the activities of daily living and worsens the quality of life. Different chemotherapeutic options are available for treating nail psoriasis such as systemic, intralesional, and topical therapies. However, current chemotherapy suffers from several limitations and to overcome them, new advancements are being made worldwide. Various reports have been published on current progress in the treatment of nail psoriasis such as clinical efficacy studies of novel antipsoriatic agents and novel formulation strategies for current chemotherapy. There are several novel nail formulations for the treatment of nail disorders, particularly onychomycosis, such as vesicular colloidal structure (liposomes, niosomes, transfersomes, ethosomes, etc.) and nonvesicular colloidal structures (nano-emulgel, nanocapsules, thermosensitive gel, etc.) These formulations can also prove beneficial for the treatment of nail psoriasis, and will be heavily explored in the near future. This review provides a brief introduction to the disease, its pathogenesis, and its treatment modalities. The review also throws light onto progress and future perspectives in nail psoriasis treatment.

Nanostructured Lipid Carriers: A New Paradigm in Topical Delivery for Dermal and Transdermal Applications.

Topical drug delivery offers many advantages over oral delivery, such as avoidance of first-pass metabolism, targeting of the active ingredients for a local effect, and patient compliance. However, the achievement of dermal and transdermal delivery needs to conciliate difficulties in permeation across skin barrier at different levels (skin surface, epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis). Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) are recently invented second-generation lipidic carriers. The present article intends to provide an insight of composition, production, and application of these carriers in topical delivery for local and systemic effects. We also discuss key considerations for standardization and critical scale-up issues. In the last decade, the volume of work on NLCs is reflected in various research reports including patents on the development of NLCs, which gives a deeper insight of this emerging field of innovation. These carriers have significance because of their uniqueness to facilitate the interactions at interfaces with the barrier membranes. NLCs are truly a "nanosafe" carrier due to their biodegradable composition and have immense promise to overcome the challenges of dermal and transdermal delivery.

Comparative study of different silymarin formulations: formulation, characterisation and in vitro/in vivo evaluation.

The aim of the present study was to study the synergistic hepatoprotective effect of silymarin with phospholipids when it is encaged in microspheres so as to passively target it to liver and to compare these silymarin formulations with silymarin solution. Various silymarin loaded lipid emulsions were formulated which include formulation A prepared with soyabean oil as an internal oily phase, soya lecithin as surfactant and tween 80 as cosurfactant; formulation B which was same as formulation A but was filtered through 0.45 micro membrane filter and finally steam sterilized for intravenous administration; formulation C containing soyabean oil as an internal oily phase, soya lecithin as surfactant, tween 80 and propylene glycol as cosurfactant/ cosolvent. These formulations were compared for their release profile with silymarin solution in propylene glycol, i.e. formulation D. In vivo evaluation was carried out using three models i.e. phenobarbitone induced sleep time in mice, biochemical estimation of SGOT and SGPT enzyme levels and histopathological examination of rat livers. Results revealed that there was significant reduction in sleep time in the mice treated with silymarin loaded lipid microspheres (both p.o. as well as i.v.) when compared with control and even with plain lipid microspheres and silymarin solution and significant reduction in enzyme levels in silymarin lipid microspheres treated group when compared with control, plain lipid microspheres as well as silymarin solution treated group. Histopathological studies also supported the results obtained from the other two models. A positive outcome of these studies gave an insight that if silymarin is coupled with phospholipid in such microparticulate delivery systems, hepatoprotective effect of drug molecules can be pronounced further by self targeting nature and synergistic action.

Recent advances in self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (SEDDS).

One of the biggest challenges confronting the contemporary drug delivery science today is to improve on the oral bioavailability of a vast number of drugs exhibiting poor and inconsistent gastrointestinal absorption. Self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (SEDDS) have been proved as highly useful technological innovations to surmount such bioavailability hiccups by virtue of their diminutive globule size, higher solubilization tendency for hydro-phobic drugs, robust formulation advantages, and easier scalability in the industrial milieu. Besides, these systems are also known to inhibit the P-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux, reduce metabolism by gut Cytochrome P-450 enzymes, and circumnavigate the hepatic first-pass effect, facilitating absorption of drugs via intestinal lymphatic pathways. In the last two decades, the phenomenal success of SEDDS as a potential tool for oral delivery of drugs has extrapolated their applications to non-oral delivery also. Various innovative approaches and patented techniques have been reported on formulation of diverse oral and non-oral self-emulsifying (SE) systems not only of various synthetic and semisynthetic drugs, but also of several phytopharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and biological macromolecules. Of late, an escalating number of reports have been pouring in on special types of SE systems, mostly nanosized, employing functional excipients such as polar lipids, phospholipids, cellulosic polymer, diblock polymers, etc. This review paper provides an updated bird's-eye view account on the publications and patents of such novel SE approaches for use in both oral and non-oral therapeutics. Providing a relatively pithy overview, this paper thus endeavors to act as a repertoire of knowledge and know-how to guide the product development scientist in formulating variegated SE systems.