Ionogels as advanced materials for overcoming challenges in wound healing and drug delivery

Abstract

Despite relevant advances, the pharmaceutical industry continues to strive with the limited adaptability, moisture management, and discomfort caused by existing wound dressings. Adding to these challenges are the bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of common (bio)therapeutics, overall leading to unmet clinical demands, safety concerns, and poor patient compliance. Ionogels, a versatile class of materials comprising ionic liquids (ILs) confined in an organic or inorganic solid network, have been proposed to overcome these drawbacks. They have demonstrated the ability to enhance the antimicrobial and mechanical properties of the resulting materials while allowing remarkable improvements in drug solubility and their delivery to targeted sites. Nowadays, safety investigations and clinical trials are still required to fully leverage the potential of ionogels for human applications. However, the recent FDA approval of the New Drug Application MRX-5LBT®, a transdermal drug delivery system, opens promising perspectives toward the clinical translation of ionogels. This review focuses on recent advances achieved in the design of ionogels for pharmaceutical applications, viz. in topical formulations to promote wound healing with antimicrobial activity, and as platforms to improve drug pharmacokinetics (solubility and bioavailability), and their delivery at targeted specific sites with controlled release behaviour.