Recently, the international top journal Advanced Functional Materials (IF 15.621) published the latest research results of Associate Prof. He Wei and postgraduate Xing Xuyang from CPU, School of Pharmacy, entitled “Nanocarrier‐Mediated Cytosolic Delivery of Biopharmaceuticals”. This article was published online on May 4, 2020. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.201910566)
In the process of humans fighting various major or rare diseases, biological drugs have almost never retreated. From the launch of the hepatitis B vaccine in 1981, the clinical application of insulin in 1982, to the various questions raised by the fatal event of gene therapy in 1996, the successful development of GLP-1, CTLA-4, PD-1, etc. from 2011 to 2015, the launch of siRNA in 2018 and the COVID-19 vaccine that all mankind is striving for, the research and development of biological drugs can be described as bumpy. With breakthrough achieved in recent years, the research and development of biopharmaceuticals has become unstoppable, showing a momentum of rapid growth. Due to the special structure and inherent characteristics, low bioavailability and inconvenience of drug delivery, however, have restricted the application of biopharmaceuticals. This article mainly reviews current biopharmaceutical research and development, major biological barriers to be overcome, potential solutions and approaches, and highlights some clinically-used drugs.