(nano-) pharmaceutical formulation otherwise pharmaceutical form; drug formulation (rus. лекарственная форма) — convenient form given to drugs or medicinal plant raw materials that allows achieving the desired therapeutic effect.

Description

There are solid (e.g. tablets, capsules), soft (ointments, suppositories), liquid (solutions, suspensions), and gaseous (aerosol) pharmaceutical forms. A drug can be prepared in one form or another for different purposes, such as to provide a method of administration, a local effect, a predetermined pharmacokinetics, etc.

The prefix "nano-" is widely used to describe pharmaceutical forms in which the size of the drug carrier belongs to the nanoscale. Pharmaceutics now operates such notions as nanocapsule (for example, encapsulation of drugs in liposomes), nanoemulsion, nanocream (nanoemulsions stabilised in the form of a cream), nanogel etc. Usage of these new formulations enables increasing efficiency of drugs, reducing the dose and side effects, expanding the range of substances administered in the same way and creating new more effective drug combinations.

Illustrations

<div>Example of pharmaceutical formulation: electron microphotograph of nano- and microcrystals of a
Example of pharmaceutical formulation: electron microphotograph of nano- and microcrystals of a pharmaceutical formulation (small particles on the right) enclosed in a gel matrix (on the left) [1].

Author

  • Grigory G. Borisenko

Source

  1. Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery Systems / Ed. by D. Thassu, M. Deleers, Y. Pathak. — Informa Healthcare, 2007. — 352 p.