Progress in technology of long-acting preparations of protein and peptide drugs

As one of the most important biological drugs, protein and peptide drugs have been increasingly used in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases in recent years. However, most of them need to be injected and lack of long-acting formulations, which brings many troubles to patients suffering from chronic diseases. In this review, we summarized the strategies for engineering long-acting formulations for proteins and peptides via preparation means, including extended-release injection, implant, oral preparations and transdermal drug delivery systems, and analyzed their release mechanisms, research advances, advantages and shortcomings, thereby providing potential approaches for promoting the formulation improvement of these drugs.