Inorganic materials–alginate composites in drug delivery

Abstract Alginates (ALGs) are the product of alginic acid, which is a marine-derived naturally occurring polysaccharide having excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility. Since long, ALGs have widely been studied and utilized in many medical and biomedical areas, including drug delivery. For the formulation of various dosage forms, ALGs are commonly used as pharmaceutical excipients in many drug delivery dosage forms. Numerous composite systems based on ALGs have already been explored and exploited to facilitate the releasing of drugs for the therapy of different illnesses. Several inorganic biomaterials, such as carbon nanotube (CNT), montmorillonite (MMT), calcium silicate (CS), β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP), and hydroxyapatite (HAp) have already been reinforced into the ALG matrices to enable the long-term and more precise release of different drugs. Additionally, these composites have been formulated to improve desired mechanical behavior. The present chapter provides an extensive overview on the reported researches on the inorganic materials–ALG composite systems for drug releasing.