Sometimes, a simple pill just isn’t good enough to deliver a drug. The active might be destroyed by the acid or enzymes in the stomach; it might not reach the target site after absorption through the intestines; it might cause damage to healthy tissues on the way; transport across cell membranes might be poor. There are many reasons.
Some of these problems can be solved by delivering the actives via injection or infusion, or perhaps topically or via inhalation. And then there are particles comprising lipids or synthetic polymers that carry and protect the active on its journey through the bloodstream, and then promote its absorption.
There are, however, creative potential alternatives involving strategies inspired by nature. One such tactic is to use engineered red blood cells to carry drugs to the active site in the body. A group of scientists at MIT and the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, has managed genetically and enzymatically to modify red blood cells in a way that will enable them to carry drugs, vaccines and even imaging agents through the blood to the target site.1
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