Natural Polysaccharides as Pharmaceutical Excipients

Abstract

Natural polysaccharides are promising materials in terms of use as pharmaceutical excipients due to their features such as cost-effectiveness, nontoxicity, biodegradability and biocompatibility. They are also flexible for chemical modifications for fine-tuning the desired properties. In addition to the continued utilization of conventional natural gums, extensive research endeavours are taking place on the modification of natural polysaccharides and the exploration of polysaccharides from unconventional natural resources for their potential use in pharmaceutics. © 2015 by Scrivener Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.