The last two decades of developments in drug formulations and novel drug delivery systems have been seen as the beginning of a new era leading to increased patient adherence and pharmacological response to the therapeutic regimen. One of the most difficult tasks is efficiency and target‐specific drug delivery or the extent of delivery at any given site of interest. Many currently designed drug delivery systems are precisely tailored to maximize the delivery of a particular form of drug by reducing the degradation or loss of the drug. In case of cancer treatment, the targeted drug delivery is of utmost importance as the anticancer agents are not having the ability to differentiate between healthy and tumor cells resulting in adverse effects and/or systemic toxicity. The targeted drug delivery is thus designed to focus on preventing side effects and encouraging the accumulation of the drug at the targeted site; one such promising drug delivery system is magnetosome drug delivery, i.e., drug delivery using magnetosomes (biological magnetic nanoparticles). In this article, we have summarized the system for design, development, and mode of drug delivery using magnetosomes along with the recent developments made in this field to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

The current scenario has seen many transformative changes in target-based drug delivery system. In this direction, encapsulation of medicines in nanoparticles has almost revolutionized the whole scenario where not only the effective, efficient, and precise delivery of drugs to the targeted tissues and cells is possible but also the adverse profile of drugs has also seen a decline. Nanotechnology and nanoscience have also spurred the target-based drug delivery for complicated illnesses including cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, antioxidants, microbial infections, and neurodegenerative complications. The major advantages of the technology involve enhanced permeation/retention and precise targeting of sensitive and delicate tissues including rectum, lung, rectum, or bladder which may enhance the local drug concentration avoiding targeting of other cells. The employment of nanotechnology to explore therapeutic avenues as well as their utilization as research tools in imaging, sensing and artificial implants have been further proven as the biggest assets. The new era includes nanoparticles of polymers (polysaccharides) and green synthesis which has shown multi-fold increase in the use of nanotechnology in the ever-emerging research era focused to target complicated illnesses. The present review describes the types of nanoparticles especially polymeric nanoparticles as well as metal-green synthesis approaches, their advantages, and the possible therapeutic prospects in several complicated pathologies. Graphical Abstract

Background: Flavonoids are phenolic compounds or plant constituents containing phenol ring and is also known as a polyphenolic compound. Flavonoids have remarkable antioxidant potential, but along with this, they also exhibit a variety of activities through various mechanisms. Flavonoids are classified into six different groups based on their chemical structures and these activities are owed to six different basic structures. In this manuscript, the focus has been paid to two subclasses i.e, Flavonoids and flavanols. Objective: The aim of this review is to highlight the potential of flavonoids in the treatment of various ailments and prospects associated with the delivery of flavonoids. Methods: We reviewed the literature from journal publication websites and electronic databases, such as Bentham, Springer, Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, etc. Results: The abundant availability of sources of flavonoids makes a point in favour of exhaustive exploration of this group. Herbals having a high content of flavonoids have been used in the treatment of a number of ailments from ancient times by human beings and these are reported to be having anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, antihyperglycemic, and antioxidant potential. Conclusion: There are a number of health benefits of flavonoids that makes this group of bioactive compounds the most promising and attractive group for researchers. The need of the hour is to explore more efficient extraction processes and advanced delivery systems for such an active and widely distributed class of natural compounds.

Background: The drugs categorized under BCS class II and IV are poorly water-soluble, which in turn affects their dissolution and bioavailability. To overcome these limitations, namely, poor solubility and bioavailability, several approaches have been tried so far, like, co-solvency, size reduction or micronization, complexation, adsorption on high surface area carriers, etc. Objective: The present article aims to explore the utilization of the liquisolid technique to improve the dissolution profile of curcumin and quercetin, used as a combination in a solid dosage form. It covers the study of the impact of various carriers employed in liquisolid technology on drug dissolution profiles; Avicel pH 101, Fujicalin and Neusilin were used as carriers in this study. Methods: The solubility of the drugs was evaluated in various non-volatile solvents except water to select the vehicle having maximum solubility. All formulations were then prepared using curcumin and quercetin in a ratio of 2:1 (150 mg curcumin : 75 mg Quercetin), comprising a proportion of 40-60% w/w of the total mass of the formulation and were estimated for post-compression parameters. During the final processing of the liquisolid compacts, the carrier is to coating material ratio was kept consistent, i.e., 20:1. Results: Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) were utilized to analyze drug-excipient interaction; these studies stated no evidence of any physical or chemical interaction between drug(s) and the excipients. The final product was then evaluated for the liquid adsorption capacity and in vitro release of the drugs as a combination, and it was observed that these two properties were found to be significantly improved in the liquisolid compacts. Conclusion: The outcomes indicated that the combination of Neusilin as the carrier and castor oil as a non-volatile solvent was the best-performing formulation appropriate for targeting an improved dissolution profile.