Practical approaches on the long-acting injections

Background Over the last several decades, long-acting injections have been studied in order to overcome such problems as low bioavailability in the oral route, the short durations of action in conventional injection, and the poor medication adherence in patients. Area covered The authors classified long-acting injections into three categories, namely, molecular modification, nanovehicle carriers, and stimuli-responsive hydrogels. The mechanisms and practical cases of these long acting injectable formulations, including conventional and recent technologies, were described and discussed in this review. Expert opinion Long-acting injection formulations has been proven to be useful from a number of preclinical and clinical studies. Therefore, the long-acting injection technologies can be promising strategy for precision and personalized medicine if the characteristics of formulation such as extended release and the drug-targeting are used appropriately.