Development of Controlled Drug Delivery for Animals

The production of, controlled release drug delivery technologies are same, both in, humans and animals, but, the reasons for developing them are not same. In humans and animals, the controlled drug delivery permits safe, effective and easy handling for the user. In humans, to develop a drug into long acting one, the reasons to be considered are, less dose frequency, more patient compliance and to improve the well being of the patient. However, in animals to develop a drug into long acting one, the reasons to be considered are, minimum animal handling, low cost of treatment and small time for the administration of the drug. In human field, main focus is on the health of the patient, but, in animal arena, main focus is on the low cost of treatment, easy administration by the farmer and minimum animal handling. In veterinary industry, these reasons challenge the production of controlled drug delivery technologies. (1).

The challenges in a veterinary drug industry, for the development of controlled drug delivery for animals are small commercial market, low profits and money spent on the research is less. The price of the finished product depends on the selection and price of the excipients, polymers, methods used for manufacturing and marketing team responsibilities (1).

The major challenge is cost of the finished product and it depends on the method of design, type of excipient and polymer used and how many excipients used during the formulation (1).

Marketing team responsibilities is another challenge. Poor marketing is responsible for decreased efforts to develop a new product (1).

Another challenge is farmed animals. There are, large number of physiological differences between the species and within the species. One example for physiological difference is body weights, Beef cattle weighs 266-641kg, dairy cows weighs 600-700 kg and sheep weig