Collagen-Based Biomaterial as Drug Delivery Module

Abstract

In the field of medicine, controlled drug delivery has become a major challenge due to inefficiency of drug at critical parameters such as permeability, solubility, half-life, targeting ability, bio- & hemocompatibility, immunogenicity, off-target toxicity and biodegradability. Since several decades the role of drug delivery module has been a crucial parameter of research and clinical observations to improve the effectiveness of drugs. Biomaterials- natural or artificial are mainly used for medical application such as in therapeutics or in diagnostics. Among all the biomaterials, collagen based-hydrogels/ films/ composite materials have attracted the research and innovations and are the excellent objects for drug delivery, tissue engineering, wound dressings and gene therapeutics etc. due to high encapsulating capacity, mechanically strong swollen structural network and efficient mass transfer properties. Substantial developments have been performed using collagen-based drug delivery systems (DDS) to deliver biomolecules with better efficacy. In spite of significant progress, several issues at clinical trials particularly targeting of intracellular molecules such as genes is still a challenge for researchers. Experimental results, theoretical models, molecular simulations will boost the fabrication/designing of collage-based DDS, which further will enhance the understanding of controlled delivery/mechanism of therapeutics at specific targets for various disease treatments.