Formulation approaches in enhancement of patient compliance to oral drug therapy.

INTRODUCTION: Disease management of outdoor patients is mainly affected by patient compliance to the drug therapy, which in turn is governed by patient convenience. Failure to follow through with a treatment decision is one of the biggest causes of unsuccessful medical care. At present, different formulation options are available for various drugs, and hence, the decision is based on the most convenient dosage form for the patient, along with optimum therapeutic benefits. AREAS COVERED: This paper reviews various available formulation approaches, in the hope of improving patient convenience, compliance and the overall outcome of oral drug therapy. EXPERT OPINION: While parenterals are valued for their speed and efficiency of delivery, these systems generally score low on patient satisfaction surveys. The oral route is the preferred route for drug delivery, although it renders multiple obstacles to formulate a patient-convenient platform, such as unfavorable taste and swallowing difficulties. Transdermal drug delivery also provides high patient satisfaction, but is effective only for the delivery of smaller, lipophilic molecules. The increasing development of biopharmaceutical therapies renders an increasing number of challenges for formulation scientists to develop a more patient-convenient means of drug delivery.