Peptide–drug conjugates (PDCs) have emerged as a next-generation therapeutic platform, combining the target specificity of peptides with the pharmacological potency of small-molecule drugs. As an evolution beyond antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs), PDCs offer distinct advantages, including enhanced cellular permeability, improved drug selectivity, and versatile design flexibility. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental components of PDCs, including homing peptide selection, linker engineering, and payload optimization, alongside strategies to address their inherent challenges, such as stability, bioactivity, and clinical translation barriers. Therapeutic applications of PDCs span oncology, infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, and emerging areas like COVID-19, with several conjugates advancing in clinical trials and achieving regulatory milestones. Innovations, including bicyclic peptides, supramolecular architectures, and novel linker technologies, are explored as promising avenues to enhance PDC design. Additionally, this review examines the clinical trajectory of PDCs, emphasizing their therapeutic potential and highlighting ongoing trials that exemplify their efficacy. By addressing limitations and leveraging emerging advancements, PDCs hold immense promise as targeted therapeutics capable of addressing complex disease states and driving progress in precision medicine.

The surface drying process is an important technology in the pharmaceutical, biomedical, and food industries. The final stage of formulation development (i.e., the drying process) faces several challenges, and overall mastering depends on the end step. The advent of new emerging technologies paved the way for commercialization. Thin film freezing (TFF) is a new emerging freeze-drying technique available for various treatment modalities in drug delivery. TFF has now been used for the commercialization of pharmaceuticals, food, and biopharmaceutical products. The present review highlights the fundamentals of TFF along with modulated techniques used for drying pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals. Furthermore, we have covered various therapeutic applications of TFF technology in the development of nanoformulations, dry powder for inhalations and vaccines. TFF holds promise in delivering therapeutics for lung diseases such as fungal infection, bacterial infection, lung dysfunction, and pneumonia.

The advent of drug resistance in response to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)- tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) targeted therapy represents a serious challenge in the management of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These acquired resistance mutations, attributed to several advanced EGFR mutations and, necessitated the development of new-generation TKIs. Nanomedicine approaches provide a plausible way to address these problems by providing targeted delivery and sustained release, which have demonstrated success in preclinical trials. This review article provides a summary of nano-formulations designed for EGFR-TKI-resistant NSCLC, highlighting their efficacy in both in vitro and in vivo models. These findings reveal insights into the design of nanoparticles and multifunctional nanosystems, offering a potential avenue for efficacious treatment of EGFR-TKIresistant NSCLC.