Functionalized Polymers for Enhance Oral Bioavailability of Sensitive Molecules

Currently, many sensitive molecules have been studied for effective oral administration. These substances are biologically active compounds that mainly suffer early degradation in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and physicochemical instability, inactivation and poor solubility and permeability. The sensibility of the biomolecules has limited their oral administration in the body and today is an important research topic to achieve desired effects in medicine field. Under this perspective, various enhancement approaches have been studied as alternatives to increase their oral bioavailability. Some of these strategies include functionalized polymers to provide specific useful benefits as protection to the intestinal tract by preventing its degradation by stomach enzymes, to increase their absorption, permeability, stability, and to make a proper release in the GIT. Due to specific chemical groups, shapes and sizes, morphologies, mechanical properties, and degradation, recent advances in functionalized polymers have opened the door to great possibilities to improve the physicochemical characteristics of these biopharmaceuticals. Today, many biomolecules are found in basic studies, preclinical steps, and others are late stage clinical development. This review summarizes the contribution of functionalized polymers to enhance oral bioavailability of sensitive molecules and their application status in medicine for different diseases. Future trends of these polymers and their possible uses to achieve different formulation goals for oral delivery are also covered in this manuscript.