Mucoadhesive formulations: innovations, merits, drawbacks, and future outlook

Mucosa has now been recognized as a potential site for both local and systemic delivery of therapeutics. Mucoadhesive drug delivery systems with customizable release profiles have recently gained considerable interest among formulation scientists to improve clinical outcomes of drugs. This review summarizes the current development in the processing methods and polymers involved in mucoadhesive drug delivery systems. Mucoadhesive drug delivery systems are suitable for drugs that have a localized effect, undergo extensive pre-systemic metabolism, narrow absorption window, and narrow therapeutic index. Polymer characteristics like surface charge, hydrophilic surface groups, wettability, molecular weight, chain flexibility, molecular conformations, etc. are critical for assessing the extent of mucoadhesiveness and treatment response. The current review focuses on valuable principles, merits, drawbacks, and future outlooks of different mucoadhesive drug delivery systems.