Novel platforms for oral drug delivery.

The aim of this review is to provide the reader general and inspiring prospects on recent and promising fields of innovation in oral drug delivery. Nowadays, inventive drug delivery systems vary from geometrically modified and modular matrices, more close to "classic" pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, to futuristic bio micro-electro-mechanical systems (bioMEMS), based on manufacturing techniques borrowed from electronics and other fields. In these technologies new materials and creative solutions are essential designing intelligent drug delivery systems able to release the required drug at the proper body location with the correct release rate. In particular, oral drug delivery systems of the future are expected to have a significant impact on the treatment of diseases, such as AIDS, cancer, malaria, diabetes requiring complex and multi-drug therapies, as well as on the life of patients, whose age and/or health status make necessary a multiple pharmacological approach.