TY - JOUR
T1 - Pharmaceutical Technology Equity for Advanced Drug Delivery Systems: Access, Affordability, and Usability
AU - Luis Herrera
AU - Daniela Rojas
AU - Andres Castro
JF - EAMD 3
Y1 - 0
VL - 0
IS - 0
SP - 198
N2 - Advanced drug delivery systems promise more precise, durable, and patient-centred therapy through nanomedicines, long-acting formulations, implantable platforms, smart delivery devices, and personalised dosage forms. These technologies can reduce dosing burden, improve therapeutic control, and expand the design space of pharmaceutical care. Yet the same sophistication that makes them attractive can also make them expensive, infrastructure-dependent, and difficult to use. The equity implications of these technologies therefore require systematic attention. The central problem addressed in this article is that pharmaceutical innovation is often evaluated through performance, safety, manufacturability, and market value, while equity remains treated as a downstream access issue. This creates a risk that advanced drug delivery systems will reach populations already well served by health systems while excluding communities facing poverty, geographic isolation, disability, low literacy, weak infrastructure, or limited digital access. Equity cannot be repaired only after launch if exclusion has already been built into the technology. It must be considered during design, development, evaluation, pricing, procurement, and implementation. This article develops the concept of pharmaceutical technology equity as a deliberate design and policy goal for advanced drug delivery systems. It argues that equitable pharmaceutical technology requires simultaneous attention to access, affordability, and usability. Access concerns whether the technology can physically and institutionally reach the people who need it. Affordability concerns whether patients and health systems can obtain it without unacceptable financial burden, while usability concerns whether diverse users can safely and effectively engage with the product in real settings. The article defines pharmaceutical technology equity, identifies structural barriers, and proposes design principles for inclusive advanced drug delivery systems. Four tables support the argument by defining equity logic, cataloguing access barriers, mapping design principles, and presenting a decision-oriented framework. The core conclusion is that equity must become an explicit and measurable goal of pharmaceutical technology development. Advanced drug delivery should not merely produce better products for privileged users; it should expand therapeutic capability for populations historically excluded from high-value innovation.
UR - https://pubsys.eshragh.co/z586636342
ER -