[Drug delivery strategies for targeted treatment of inflammatory bowel disease]

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a frequently occurring disease in young people, which is characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. The therapy of IBD is dominated by the administration of anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents, which suppress the intestinal inflammatory burden and improve the disease-related symptoms. Present treatment strategies are characterized by a limited therapeutical efficacy and the occurrence of adverse drug reactions. The development of novel disease-targeted drug delivery strategies is preferable for a more effective therapy and thus demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs. This review gives an overview about drug delivery strategies for the treatment of IBD. Therefore, established intestine-targeting strategies for a selective drug release into the diseased part of the gastrointestinal tract will be presented, including prodrugs, and dosage forms with pH-/time-dependent drug release. Furthermore future-oriented disease-targeting strategies for a selective drug release into the intestinal inflammation will be described, including micro-/nanosized synthetic and biologic drug carriers. This novel therapeutic approach may enable a more effective anti-inflammatory treatment of IBD with reduced risks of adverse reactions.