Next-Generation Nanocarriers for Drug Solubility Enhancement: A Comprehensive Review
Poor aqueous solubility represents one of the key bottlenecks in the process of developing pharmaceutical drugs. Approximately 40% of marketed drugs and nearly 90% of novel compounds are poorly soluble in water, leading to poor dissolution rate, bioavailability, and reduced pharmacological efficiency. Novel technologies using nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems represent promising solutions to these problems. Nanocarriers enhance drug solubility via mechanisms that include reduction of particle size, increase in surface area, better wettability, encapsulation, and drug release control. Several types of nanocarriers such as liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, nanogels, mesoporous silica nanoparticles, and exosomes have shown considerable promise in improving drug solubility and bioavailability. This paper provides a review on the mechanisms, types, application areas, challenges, and future perspectives of next-generation nanocarriers for drug solubility enhancement.
