Conventional drug carrier systems are restricted owing to poor bioavailability, weak stability and non-specific localization, which causes systemic toxicities and reduced therapeutic efficacy. Niosomes, one of the nonionic surfactant vesicular systems, have been suggested that value to overcome these constraints. In this review, we give an account of recent progress in niosome research, highlighting their merits, composition, characterization, and applications. Niosomes offer several advantages including increased drug bioavailability, targeted delivery and reduced toxicity. Bilayered niosomes can entrap both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs, therefore allowing simultaneous delivery of actives components. We provide an overview of various techniques for niosome preparation including thin-film hydration, reverse phase evaporation, sonication and microfluidization, and their advantages and disadvantages. Niosome assisted drug delivery is wide-ranging and includes cancer therapy, antimicrobial therapy, dermatology, vaccination and gene therapy. We then analyze recent preclinical and clinical studies in which niosomes have been effective in enhancing the drug therapeutic efficacy while reducing the adverse effects. The regulatory perspective and barriers of niosome drug delivery are also discussed. To overcome the constraint associated with niosome formation, research have focused on increasing surfactant content, introducing stabilizers and investing efforts into the scaling up processes to come up with the attempts that can be more stable and capable for industry. In general, niosomes have a great potential for the preparation of drug delivery system that are successful as well as targeted and future development is more likely to change of medical practice.
Gawade et al. (2026) studied this question.