Drug delivery system in treatment against inflammatory bowel disease: present and future

Mesalazine, also known as mesalamine or 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), is an aminosalicylate anti-inflammatory drug used as a primary agent to treat inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis and to maintain remission in Crohn’s disease. The efficacy of 5-ASA is determined by the degree of drug delivery to the site of inflammation, but it depends on the formulation. In recent years, 5-ASA preparations using drug-delivery system (DDS) technology as a therapeutic agent for ulcerative colitis have been developed one after another, contributing to improvement of therapeutic effect. In this article, we focus on the pharmacokinetic characteristics of each 5-ASA preparation, and introduce the features and clinical usefulness of the preparation.