Patient’s Come First, as Pharma Companies Try to Please with Innovation in Drug Delivery

Monday 17 September 2012, Amsterdam

Drug delivery can utilize various routes, with medication most commonly being administered orally or intravenously. Other routes include topical delivery, through the skin, or transmucosal delivery through the vagina, rectum, eye, nose, cheek, or under the tongue. In their latest report*, pharmaceutical industry experts examin innovative drug delivery methods.

Sophisticated drug delivery systems can cater for patient requirements, or those of the molecule itself. Certain drug delivery systems can promote patient adherence with medication schedules, potentially improving efficacy outcomes and making products more cost effective, thereby providing commercial opportunities for pharmaceutical companies. Drug delivery methods can enable the use of promising molecules which have poor solubility, or require selective delivery to a particular tissue, such as the brain. Drug delivery technologies can enable companies to differentiate their products within crowded therapeutic areas, or improve upon existing drugs. The commercial success of innovative drug delivery technologies is clear, and the driving market competition creates significant positive changes for many patients.

Research is being directed toward drug delivery methods used for oncology treatments, as drug companies study new ways to deliver existing molecules. Reducing drug toxicity in cancer treatment would be a huge medical breakthrough, and may be achieved by reformulating products to remove toxic elements, or by closely targeting drugs to cancer cells to reduce peripheral damage.

A war against needles is also being fought, as diabetes patients hold out hope for new delivery technologies, while current insulin treatments all relying on subcutaneous methods, whether by injection, pen injectors, or insulin pumps. Similarly, specialists are looking at how vaccines may be delivered to mucosal systems rather than intravenously, as these could offer a painless and less invasive alternative to childhood injections.

Failure to understand patient needs can ultimately cause the commercial failure of a product, and drug delivery researchers will therefore benefit from contact with patients, identifying their most pressing needs and developing products around these. However,  proof will be needed to back up claims that drug delivery methods are not a waste of valuable R&D funding. For instance, the link between convenience and adherence with medication schedules will come under closer scrutiny in the future, as reimbursement companies will demand clinical data to support the superiority of less frequent dosing regimens.

The global drug delivery market was estimated to be worth $101 bn in 2009, and set to rise to $199 bn in 2016 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.32%. Individual blockbuster products may earn over $1 bn as a single product