Non-invasive delivery strategies for biologics

The requirement for delivery by injection is currently a limitation for the use of biologic drugs such as antibodies. In this Review, Mitragotri and colleagues discuss advances made in non-invasive drug delivery for biologics, including the transdermal, oral and inhalation routes, highlighting which routes are the most promising and the additional challenges to bringing these systems to the clinic. Biologics now constitute a significant element of available medical treatments. Owing to their clinical and commercial success, biologics are a rapidly growing class and have become a dominant therapeutic modality. Although most of the successful biologics to date are drugs that bear a peptidic backbone, ranging from small peptides to monoclonal antibodies (~500 residues; 150 kDa), new biologic modalities, such as nucleotide-based therapeutics and viral gene therapies, are rapidly maturing towards widespread clinical use. Given the rise of peptides and proteins in the pharmaceutical landscape, tremendous research and development interest exists in developing less-invasive or non-invasive routes for the systemic delivery of biologics, including subcutaneous, transdermal, oral, inhalation, nasal and buccal routes. This Review summarizes the current status, latest updates and future prospects for such delivery of peptides, proteins and other biologics.