Chronopharmaceutical Drug Delivery Systems: Present Scenario

Chronopharmaceutics is an emerging discipline which combines the knowledge of chronobiology and pharmaceutics to maximize the therapeutic output in the diseases which follows circadian rhythms. Recent advances in the field of chronobiology and chronopharmacology have generated a plethora of data related to the biological rhythms that may be used for the development of time dependent drug delivery systems to optimize their safety and efficacy. Optimum therapeutic response is achieved when a bioactive agent is released at rhythm that ideally matches in real time the biological requirement of a disease. Chronopharmaceutical drug delivery systems embody time controlled and site-specific drug delivery systems. Some of the disease conditions which follow circadian rhythms include cardiovascular diseases, asthma, diabetes, neurological disorders, hypertension, ulcer etc. the current key technologies employed in Chronopharmaceutics are Diffucaps, OROS, Codas, Egalet,3D printing, Port, etc.As a new and evolving discipline, Chronopharmaceutics has attracted the attention of academician and industry. The present article focuses on the newer approaches in the Chronopharmaceutics and Chronotherapeutics, their applications and the real challenges ahead in the designing and manufacturing of chrononopharmaceutical drug delivery systems.