Nucleic Acid-Based Therapeutic Drug Delivery System

The targeted drug delivery system aims to deliver medication to the target tissue to reduce side effects and improve the overall efficacy of the medication. The drastic reduction of the dose has been an advantage of this system, coupled with a significant increased in the delivered pharmaceutical agent's therapeutic index. Nucleic acid, as a naturally occurring chemical compound, carries information molecules and monitors protein synthesis in the cells, making it an important therapeutic target for drug delivery to tissues. They are made up of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the nucleic acid-based therapeutic drug delivery system with its associated principles and mechanisms, barriers to nucleic acid-based therapeutics transfection and their delivery systems, primary delivery systems used in transferring nucleic acid-based therapy, and nucleic acid-based therapeutic drug delivery system as a tool of advanced pharmaceutical, herbal nanoscience. This is meant to support innovations in the field of pharmaceutical and herbal nanoscience.