Bioconjugated materials as potential vehicles for delivery of antibiotics/drugs

Antibiotics and drugs are potent, life-saving treatments for simple to complex diseases and can save and extend the life of a patient. Limited bioavailability and efficacy of antibiotics and drugs are due to the absence of potential delivery vehicles with rapid responsiveness and correct targeting. This has encouraged the researchers to develop various antibiotics and drugs-loaded delivery vehicles. These include nanoparticles, nanofibers, hydrogel, nanoemulgel, microbubbles, liposomes, and nanocapsules. These innovations paved the way for more advanced and efficient multi-acting platforms that can provide site-targeting and efficient bioavailability for antibiotics and drugs. Unfortunately, these delivery vehicles are plagued with major flaws, such as poor stability profile, poor shelf life, and poor repeatability across and within production batches. Recently, attention is focused on developing alternative strategies like bioconjugation of antibiotics and drugs with materials (e.g., bioconjugated hydrogel, nanomaterials and micelles) to overcome those drawbacks. Bioconjugation is a simple technique to conjugate antibiotics and drugs with another drug or various other smart materials via physical and/or chemical crosslinking. This chapter describes the important types of bioconjugates including natural and synthetic material conjugated drugs/antibiotics and their fabrication strategies. Practical methods of formulation of such bioconjugates are also described along with several significant marketed products.