Polymers for Nucleic Acid Delivery: Strategies and Technologies
01-30-2026
With the breakthrough advances in gene therapy, mRNA vaccines, and CRISPR/Cas gene-editing technologies, nucleic acid therapeutics have emerged as a frontier of modern biomedicine. However, the clinical application of nucleic acids as therapeutic agents is primarily limited by inefficient in vivo delivery. Naked nucleic acid molecules are highly susceptible to enzymatic degradation by nucleases in biological fluids, and their strong negative charge and hydrophilic nature severely hinder cellular membrane penetration. As a result, the development of safe and efficient delivery carriers is critical to unlocking the full potential of gene-based therapies. Among various delivery platforms, polymers have become a central pillar of non-viral gene delivery systems due to their highly tunable chemical structures, favorable biocompatibility, and excellent nucleic acid loading capacity.
Polymers for Small Molecule Drug Delivery: Formulation Strategies and Design Principles
01-30-2026
In the field of modern drug development, despite the rapid rise of biologics, small molecule therapeutics continue to dominate the pharmaceutical market due to their well-defined chemical structures, mature synthetic processes, and ability to penetrate cell membranes to act on intracellular targets. However, with the advancement of high-throughput screening (HTS) and combinatorial chemistry, approximately 70%-90% of newly identified lead compounds fall into BCS Class II or IV, exhibiting low solubility or low permeability. Advances in polymer science offer revolutionary tools to address these pharmacological challenges. Functional polymers are no longer merely inert excipients; they have become key materials capable of precisely modulating drug release, improving pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles, and enabling targeted delivery.
Overcoming Oral Drug Delivery Challenges with Polymer Carriers
01-30-2026
In the contemporary field of drug development, oral administration remains the preferred route of drug delivery due to its non-invasive nature, high patient compliance, and cost-effectiveness. However, with advances in modern medicinal chemistry, new molecular entities (NMEs) often exhibit poor solubility, low permeability, or instability within the gastrointestinal (GI) environment, posing severe challenges to conventional formulation technologies. Polymers, as versatile drug delivery platforms, provide powerful solutions to overcome these biological barriers through physicochemical modification and structural design. Customized polymer-based drug delivery strategies, biomimetic and biopolymer architectures, and drug-free macromolecular processing approaches have all been applied to address challenges in polymer drug delivery. Polymer drug delivery systems based on natural and synthetic polymers have been rapidly adopted across the pharmaceutical industry. Integrating perspectives from both artificial and biological disciplines will facilitate the development of innovative models for polymer-based therapeutic and nucleic acid delivery systems.
Polymer Carriers for Protein and Peptide Drug Delivery
01-30-2026
Proteins and peptide drugs, with their high specificity and low toxicity, have become central to modern biopharmaceutical research. However, their intrinsic physicochemical instability and limitations in in vivo pharmacokinetics (PK) hinder clinical translation. Functional polymer carriers, as an advanced drug delivery strategy, can significantly improve the in vivo performance of biomacromolecules through mechanisms such as steric hindrance, surface modification, and structural encapsulation. This article explores, from both biochemical and materials science perspectives, the mechanisms by which polymer carriers overcome physiological barriers, the types of carriers available, and key design considerations in drug development.
How Synthetic Polymers Enable Targeted Vaccine Delivery?
01-30-2026
The paradigm of vaccinology is rapidly shifting from traditional whole-pathogen formulations toward molecularly defined antigens, including recombinant subunits, synthetic peptides, and emerging nucleic acid (mRNA/DNA) technologies. While these next-generation antigens offer significant advantages in specificity and safety, their clinical efficacy is often limited by intrinsic physicochemical instability, short in vivo half-life, and poor membrane permeability. Exposed antigens are highly susceptible to nuclease or protease degradation in the complex physiological environment and are inefficiently taken up by antigen-presenting cells (APCs), resulting in weak immune responses. In this context, synthetic polymers, with their exceptional chemical versatility and controllable structures, have emerged as key tools to overcome these delivery bottlenecks. Compared with viral or lipid-based systems, synthetic polymers allow precise molecular engineering of molecular weight, topology, and surface functionalities, enabling the creation of intelligent delivery platforms that mimic pathogen features, protect fragile cargo, and achieve targeted lymph node delivery.
Polymer-Based Gene Delivery Platforms for DNA, RNA, and Oligonucleotide Therapeutics
01-27-2026
With the breakthrough advances in gene therapy and mRNA vaccine technologies, the safe and efficient delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics to target cells has become a central challenge in the biopharmaceutical field. Although viral vectors are widely used in clinical applications, issues such as immunogenicity, limited cargo capacity, and high manufacturing costs have driven the scientific community to explore non-viral alternatives. Among these, polymer-based gene delivery systems have emerged as a leading platform for next-generation nucleic acid delivery, owing to their structural design flexibility, low immunogenicity, and ability to accommodate high–molecular-weight genetic payloads.
