Oral delivery of peptide therapeutics in infants: Challenges and opportunities.

ABSTRACT: The vast majority of drugs are not designed or developed for pediatric and infant populations. Peptide drugs, which have become increasingly relevant in the past several decades, are no exception. Unfortunately, nearly all of the 60+ approved peptide drugs are formulated for injection, a particularly unfriendly mode of administration for infants. Although three peptide drugs were recently approved for oral formulations, this major advance in peptide drug delivery is available only for adults. In this review, we consider the current challenges and opportunities for the oral formulation of peptide therapeutics, specifically for infant populations. We describe the strategies that enable oral protein delivery and the potential impact of infant physiology on those strategies. We also detail the

SUBMITTER: Gleeson JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8178217 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature