Inhalable Nanomedicines for the Treatment of Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Pulmonary aspergillosis is a serious pulmonary fungal infection and a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. The current treatment for pulmonary aspergillosis includes the delivery of antifungal drugs via oral and/or parenteral routes. However, the current routes of administration are associated with many challenges such as poor oral absorption and oral bioavailability, systemic toxicity, and low drug concentration at the site of action. Thus, more effective treatment with direct and targeted delivery of the drugs to the site of action is required. Pulmonary delivery is a promising route of administration for the delivery of antifungal drugs directly to the site of infection, i.e., lungs. This chapter will describe the pulmonary delivery of antifungal drugs for the treatment of pulmonary aspergillosis. It covers a summary of current treatment and drugs used for the treatment of pulmonary aspergillosis and their mechanism of action, inhalation delivery of antifungal drugs, and a description of the reported inhaled antifungal nanomedicine pulmonary delivery systems.