Microencapsulation as a Tool for Controlled Drug Delivery

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Controlled drug delivery systems, which release drug/s in a predetermined manner, offer numerous advantages over conventional drug delivery systems. These advantages include improved bioavailability, reduced dose frequency, minimized fluctuations in plasma drug concentration, and sustained drug release. The major drawback of the unit dosage form is dose dumping, which can be effectively overcome by multiple unit dosage forms like microcapsules. The microencapsulation technique involves enclosing drug/s by a thin coating shell, and the resultant product is referred to as microcapsules. This technique has potential applications, especially in delivering enclosed drug/s in a controlled manner, protecting them from harsh environments, masking unpleasant tastes, and many more. Several techniques, such as mechanical processes, chemical processes, and physicochemical processes, are used to encapsulate drug/s. Drug release from microcapsules is predominantly facilitated by diffusion, whereas swelling and dissolution, erosion and degradation, and osmosis are minor mechanisms. The polymers, which can be natural or synthetic, play a stellar role in the controlled release of drug/s from microcapsules. Prepared microcapsules are characterized and evaluated by various techniques for shape, size, surface characteristics, drug release and release kinetics, rheological behavior, etc. Despite the significant promise, various constraints and restrictions hinder the use of microencapsulation technology, creating a gap between real-life clinical practice and its therapeutic applications. The current chapter provides a comprehensive analysis of the most recent techniques, characterization and evaluation techniques, challenges, and commercially available microencapsulated pharmaceutical products.