Peptides, Proteins and Antibodies

Peptide and protein therapeutics are an area of continuous market growth, and these compounds are able to address a growing range of clinical pathologies due to their high specificity and potency. Additional advantages include the low toxicity of their metabolic products and the minimal potential for drug–drug interactions, which make them attractive candidates for clinical development. The pharmaceutical industry is today more in need of delivery technologies for protein and peptide therapeutics. This is achieved either by engineering peptide prodrugs/chimeras by appending a peptide/protein domain to a therapeutic protein or peptide. This conjugate presentation is done to enable the peptide to target an area of pathology by binding a particular receptor, and it is usually combined with a formulation strategy (nano-enabled delivery systems or devices) for delivery via parenteral and non-parenteral routes. In this chapter, the strategies to deliver peptide or protein therapeutics via the parenteral, oral and nasal routes will be discussed.