The Evolution of Vesicular Carriers: Spanlastics as a Breakthrough Platform

The drug distribution to the target areas can be limited due to the presence of biological and physiological barriers which hinder therapeutic effectiveness. Various conventional dosage forms, such as tablets, capsules, solutions, suspensions, and emulsions, are generally used in treatment of disease; But, these systems usually have bioavailability issues and poor patient compliance, resulting in poor clinical outcomes. Novel drug delivery system (NDDS) has been created to overcome this limitation, such as nanoparticles, nanoemulsions, liposomes, and dendrimers, which results in enhanced drug stability, controlled release, and efficiency in drug targeting. A further improvement in vesicular drug delivery technology, i.e, Spanlastic was presented in 2011 by Kakkar and Kaur. These are extremely elastic and deformable vesicular carriers consisting of non-ionic surfactants & Edge activators. In this, aqueous drug presented in a core which is entrapped in a flexible bilayer membrane due to the self-assembly property of surfactant. These system ensures effective penetration across biological membranes as it is possessing extraordinary deformability. This paper provides an overview of the structural properties, content, preparation processes, evaluation criteria, and therapeutic applications of Spanlastics. Their potential role as effective carriers for site-specific medication delivery and better therapeutic performance is especially highlighted.