Pulmonary drug delivery systems of antibiotics for the treatment of respiratory tract infections

Abstract

Respiratory infections cause an extensive health problem in the world. The common treatment for respiratory infections is the administration of antibiotics orally or parenterally in a high dose. Unfortunately, these therapies of high-dose antimicrobials have many disadvantages, such as severe side effects. Consequently, the development of an inhaled formulation provides the delivery of the therapeutic dose of the drug to the organ of interest without overt systemic effects. Novel technological advances have led to the development of inhaled antibiotics. Recent particle engineering techniques for dry powder inhalers (DPI) or mesh nebulizers have higher aerosolization efficiencies and promote the delivery of high-dose antibiotics to the lungs. However, advanced formulation strategies are in high demand for the development of new formulations for more types of antibiotics. Despite all the current research, patient compliance with pulmonary dosage forms remains to be very low because of the inappropriate administration techniques. Hence, this review focuses on three key aspects of the pulmonary dosage forms of antibiotics; the marketed products, the formulation approaches under research and innovative formulation strategies for achieving drug delivery through the respiratory tract.