Benefits of Liposome Drug Delivery

Liposomes are small spherical lipid vesicles with a bi-layered membrane. They are widely utilized in pharmaceutical formulations to:

• Develop nanoparticle liposomal formulations with the desired composition, size, surface charge and other properties
• Encapsulate both hydrophilic and hydrophobic therapeutic agents with high efficiency
• Protect the encapsulated drugs from undesirable effects from external conditions
• Be coated with inert and biocompatible polymers such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), prolonging the liposome circulation half-life

Liposome drug delivery applications include treatment for fungal and protozoan infections, influenza, Hepatitis A, malignant lymphomatous meningitis, breast cancer, age-related macular degeneration and more. Clinical trials are under way to test the effectiveness of liposomes to deliver drugs used in the treatment of leukemia, soft-tissue sarcoma, ovarian cancer and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.