How Modified-Release Dosage Forms Benefit Both The Patient And The Innovator

By Yihong Qiu, Ph.D.

Whether your goal is to increase patient compliance, improve clinical outcomes, or to extend a product’s lifecycle, modified-release dosage forms present a solution to a myriad of issues. The challenge is to understand the influence of both drug property and delivery technology on drug design, and to give you enough time to select and introduce the ideal release form for both therapeutic and economic advantage.

Unlike immediate-release forms, which act quickly, modified-release forms are intended to act over a longer time period or delay action until they have reached a specific area – the stomach, small intestine, or colon, for example. There are different names for different modifications:

• delayed release for specific sites or times
• extended release for sustained or controlled drug exposure
• programmed release such as pulsatile or biphasic

In the area of modified-release dosage forms, there is no “one-size-fits-all” delivery technology. Read more about the benefits of modified release and considerations for contracting MR manufacturing.