Liposomes in drug delivery: a patent review (2007-present)

Introduction: Drug therapy is frequently limited by the widespread biodistribution of the active agents and the little specificity for non-healthy cells. Therefore, inadequate drug concentrations result into the site of action, and severe toxicity may also arise. To address the problem, liposome-based medicines have tried to improve pharmacotherapy. Areas covered: The review provides an updated revision of the lately published patents covering recent advances in liposome-based drug delivery. They are principally related to the control of drug biodistribution by using stealth, stimuli-sensitive and/or liposomal structures surface modified for ligand-mediated delivery. The contribution further highlights liposome-based theranosis. Expert opinion: Liposomes have received great attention given their biocompatibility, biodegradability and targetability. From 2007 to present date, patent publications related to their use in drug delivery have shown the move towards more stable structures with optimized drug delivery capabilities, further combining passive and active targeting concepts to gain control of the in vivo fate. However, the introduction of all these liposomal structures in the disease arena is still a challenge. Two key aspects are the difficulty of identifying easy and economic synthesis conditions which can be scaled up in the pharmaceutical industry, and the need for complementary investigations illustrating risks of toxicity/immunogenicity.