{"paper_id":"0832f62e-77b7-4114-83a2-31a1c9273f05","body_text":"EDITORIAL\nDrug delivery in female reproductive health\nDavid R. Friend 1\nPublished online: 11 September 2017\n# Controlled Release Society 2017\nEditorial\nThis theme issue has its origin in a previous theme issue on\nBAdvances in V aginal Drug Delivery^ published in Drug\nDelivery and Translational Researchin June 2011. That issue\nwas based on a scientific session at the Controlled Release\nSociety Annual Meeting held in Portland, OR, in July 2010.\nThe goal for the current theme is to provide a more expansive\nlook at drug delivery as it rela tes to female reproductive\nhealth.\nA key aspect of female reproductive health remains fo-\ncused on prevention of sexual transmission of HIV . Due to\nthe inability to demonstrate successful clinical outcomes using\npericoital (on-demand) vaginally administered products, there\nis increasing emphasis on the use of long-acting delivery sys-\ntems. A key perceived advantage of long-acting dosage forms\nis that adherence will be substantially improved compared\nwith that seen with pericoital products such as tenofovir vag-\ninal gel [ 1]. Desai and coworkers [ 2] examined the field of\nlong-acting systemic HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis. These\nlong-acting systems fall into one of two general categories:\ninjectable and implantable. One of the more interesting prod-\nucts under development relies on the extended release of\ncabotegravir (an integrase inhibitor). Due to potency, the abil-\nity to deliver antiviral drugs at effective levels will probably be\nno longer than 1 year and in some cases, no longer than\n3m o n t h s .\nDespite challenges observed with pericoital administration\nof vaginal gels, work continues on development of on-\ndemand products for HIV and other STI prevention. Patel\nand Rohan have contributed an article covering on-demand\nmicrobicide products [ 3] including vaginal gels, films, and\ninserts (tablets). Woodrow and coworkers have provided their\ninsights into use of electrospun fibers in female reproductive\nhealth [4]. Electrospun fibers have potential in prevention of\nacquisition of STIs including HIV , contraception, other repro-\nductive tract infections, and in the field of multipurpose pre-\nvention technologies (MPTs).\nCervical cancer remains a serious health concern for wom-\nen. Since the cervix is accessible through the vagina, localized\ndelivery of chemotherapeutic drugs is reviewed by\nMcConville and Major [ 5]. There are several vaginal dosage\nforms being investigated for treatment and reduction of recur-\nrence of cervical cancer includ ing inserts (tablets), rings,\nbioadhesive dosage forms, as well as cervical caps. Two other\nfemale reproductive conditions affecting many women world-\nwide are endometriosis and uterine fibroids. The use of drug\ndelivery to address these two conditions has been reviewed\n[6]. Drug delivery for these conditions relies on marketed\nproducts (primarily contraceptives). In addition, newer ap-\nproaches involving nanotechnology are under investigation.\nIncluded in this issue are two articles (one an original arti-\ncle and another a short communication). The former describes\nresearch on a MPT product that can potentially release three\nantiviral agents and a contraceptive [ 7]. The latter article re-\nports on the anti-HIV activity of MIV-150, a non-nucleoside\nreverse transcriptase inhibitor and zinc acetate [8].\nReferences\n1. Marrazzo JM, Ramjee G, Richardson BA, Gomez K, Mgodi N, Nair\nG, et al. Tenofovir-based preexposure prophylaxis for HIV infection\namong African women. N Engl J Med. 2015;372(6):509–18. https://\ndoi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1402269.\n* David R. Friend\ndfriend@evofem.com\n1 Evofem Biosciences, Inc., San Diego, CA 92130, USA\nDrug Deliv. and Transl. Res. (2017) 7:773–774\nDOI 10.1007/s13346-017-0427-y\n\n\n2. Lykins WR, Luecke E, Johengen D, van der Straten A, Desai TA.\nLong acting systemic HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis: an examination\nof the field. Drug Delivery and Translational Research. 2017;https://\ndoi.org/10.1007/s13346-017-0391-6.\n3. Patel SK, Rohan LC. On-demand microbicide products: design mat-\nters. Drug Delivery and Translational Research. 2017; https://doi.\norg/10.1007/s13346-017-0385-4.\n4. Blakney AK, Jiang Y , Woodrow KA. Application of electrospun\nfibers for female reproductive health. Drug Delivery and\nTranslational Research. 2017; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-017-\n0386-3.\n5. Major I, McConville C. V aginal drug delivery for the localised treat-\nment of cervical cancer. Drug Delivery and Translational Research.\n2017; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-017-0395-2.\n6. Friend DR. Drug delivery for the treatment of endometriosis and\nuterine fibroids. Drug Delivery and Translational Research. 2017;\nhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-017-0423-2.\n7. Derby N, Aravantinou M, Kenney J, Ugaonkar SR, Wesenberg A,\nWilk J, et al. An intravaginal ring that releases three antiviral agents\nand a contraceptive blocks SHIV -RT infection, reduces HSV -2 shed-\nding, and suppresses hormonal cycling in rhesus macaques. Drug\nDelivery and Translational Research. 2017; https://doi.org/10.1007/\ns13346-017-0389-0.\n8. Mizenina O, Hsu M, Jean-Pierre N, Aravantinou M, Levendosky K,\nPaglini G, et al. MIV -150 and zinc acetate combination provides\npotent and broad activity against HIV-1. Drug Delivery and\nTranslational Research. 2017; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-017-\n0421-4.\n774 Drug Deliv. and Transl. Res. (2017) 7:773–774","source_license":"public-domain-us","license_restricted":false}