Title:Opportunities and Challenges for Niosomes as Drug Delivery Systems
Volume: 13
Issue: 8
Author(s): Miloni Thakkar and Brijesh S.
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Combination therapy, niosomes, ratiometric, safety, scalability, stability.
Abstract: Background: With the increase in drug resistance observed in most infectious diseases as
well as some forms of cancer, and with the chances of development of new drug molecules to address
this issue looking bleak, one of the most plausible ways to disease treatment is combination therapy.
Purpose: Combination therapy would ensure delay in drug resistance, if utilized rationally. However,
the biggest difficulty in employing combination therapy are adverse effects due to potential drug–drug
interactions and patient compliance due to multiple routes of administration or multiple dosing that may
be required. To overcome these issues, researchers have utilized nanoparticle-based systems that can
hold multiple drugs in a single carrier. There are several nanocarrier systems available for such purposes.
However, the focus of this review will be non-ionic surfactant-based systems (niosomes) for delivery
of multiple therapeutic agents. Niosomes are artificially prepared drug delivery carriers. They are
structurally similar to liposomes albeit more stable than them.
Methods: Literature pertaining to combination drug delivery and various drug delivery systems was reviewed.
It was conceptualized that many of the methods used to prepare various types of carriers for
combination delivery of drugs may be used for niosomal systems as well.
Conclusion: We envisage that niosomes may effectively be utilized to package older drugs in newer ways.
The review will thus focus on techniques that may be used for the formulation of niosomes, ways to encapsulate
multiple-drug moieties, and challenges associated in preparing and optimizing such systems.
