Understanding drug delivery from a system perspective: Concept and demonstration

In our work, for the first time, we view drug delivery as drug supply chain, and analyze drug supply chain from a system perspective. A glucose-responsive insulin delivery microgel is taken as an example to have a system view of it for a better understanding of its behavior. The benefit of viewing drug delivery as a supply chain system is the possibility of applying the advanced design (such as FBS model) and control technology (such as robust control) well known in mechanical engineering to drug supply systems, which may significantly improve the design and control of a drug supply system to further improve the performance and safety of drug delivery.