Rate Control in Drug

Delivery and Targeting:

Parenteral drug delivery
route
• Drug delivery and targeting systems (DDTS) aim to overcome
the limitations of conventional drugs and thus improve drug
performance to obtain the ideal DDTS
 Advantage of Parenteral route
• The main clinical role of parenteral therapy is to administer drugs that
cannot be given by the oral route, either because of their poor
absorption properties, or propensity to degrade in the gastrointestinal
tract.
• Injection by the Intravenous route is used when an immediate drug
effect is required.
• subcutaneous or intramuscular injection is used to prolonged release of
a drug
Limitation of Parenteral route

• Parenteral route is invasive

• Intravenous injections may only be given by qualified medical professionals,
making this route expensive and inconvenient.
• Intramuscular and subcutaneous preparations are self-injectable; however,
patients dislike them.
• In addition, elderly, infirm and pediatric patients cannot administer their own
injections and require assistance, thereby increasing inconvenience to these
patients and the cost of their therapy.
• Increased medical complications can result from the poor compliance
associated with the parenteral route.
• Furthermore, the parenteral route is normally associated with short-term
effects.
Limitation of Parenteral route
• Low Distribution: intravenously administered drugs distribute
throughout the body and reach non-target organs and tissues,
resulting in drug wastage and (possibly) toxic side-effects.
• Affected by metabolism process: the drug may be rapidly metabolized
in the liver or other organs.
• Affected by Excretion process: the drug may be cleared rapidly from
the body through the kidney.
Intramuscular and subcutaneous injection
• In general, IM and SC injection of drugs establishes a deposit or
“depot” that will be released gradually into the systemic circulation.
• The drug’s formulation will influence the period over which it is
released; for example, the formulation of antipsychotic agents such as
flupentixol in oil allows them to be administered once a month or
every three months.
Intravenous Injection
• The IV route carries the greatest risk of any route of drug
administration.
• By administering directly into the systemic circulation, either by direct
injection or infusion, the drug is instantaneously distributed to its
sites of action.
• This route of administration can be complex and confusing.
• It may require dose calculations, dilutions, information to be
gathered on administration rates and compatibilities with other IV
solutions, as well as the use of programmable infusion devices.
To be continued