PLGA-based implants for sustained delivery of peptides/proteins:Current status,challenge and perspectives

Peptide and protein drugs with therapeutic effects suffer from their short half-life and low stability,albeit their high efficiency and specificity.To overcome these demerits,long-acting drug delivery systems have been developed,wherein poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)(PLGA)implants are most preferred owing to their excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility.Dozens of PLGA based products have been approved since 1986,when the first product,named Decapeptyl®,successfully marched into market.To meet the increas-ing demand for delivering various peptides and proteins,different kinds of technologies have been devel-oped for lab-scale fabrication or industrial manufacture.This review aims to introduce recent advances of PLGA implants,and give a brief summary of fundamental properties of PLGA,fabrication technolo-gies of peptides/proteins-loaded PLGA implants as well as factors influencing the drug release processes.Moreover,challenges and future perspectives are also highlighted.