life

Editorial
Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
Cesar Augusto Roque-Borda * , Fernando Rogério Pavan * and Andréía Bagliotti Meneguin *

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara 14800-903, SP, Brazil
* Correspondence: cesar.roque@unesp.br (C.A.R.-B.); fernando.pavan@unesp.br (F.R.P.);
andreia.meneguin@unesp.br (A.B.M.)

Biotechnology and pharmacy have shown efficient results when combined to generate
innovative technological products [1]. In recent years, the increase in infectious diseases
has led to economic decline and a global crisis [2]. The COVID-19 pandemic produced by
SARS-CoV-2, a type of coronavirus, has taken the lives of millions of people in the last two
years [3]. During this waiting time, the treatments adopted for infected patients have been
based on the administration of azithromycin, and the effects of the uncontrolled use of this
medication will be seen in years to come [4].
Pharmaceutical biotechnology has made it possible to quickly obtain vaccines and
new recombinant drugs or drugs derived from living organisms that have a broad spec-
trum or specific action and manage to prevent diseases [5]. However, when it comes to
infectious diseases, obtaining new drugs approved by the FDA is difficult because the ratio
between reports of new MDR strains and new drugs is significantly large [6]. Concerning
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that claims the most lives in the world, the regis-
tration of drugs is scarce or virtually non-existent [7]. The last drug to be approved (in 2012)
was bedaquiline, and the bacterium has already shown resistance to almost all the drugs on
the market. The seriousness of this problem led to a bedaquiline–protomanid combination
(synergistic effect) to be approved in 2019 [8]. Therefore, the urgency for obtaining new
drugs, especially for MDR bacteria classified as “critical and high priority” by the WHO,
should be highlighted [9].
Citation: Roque-Borda, C.A.; Pavan, Thus, we have launched this Special Edition of Life called Pharmaceutical Biotechnology,
F.R.; Meneguin, A.B. Pharmaceutical where we frame the use of biomacromolecules that are being studied in depth, such as
Biotechnology. Life 2022, 12, 1240. antimicrobial peptides, lipids, metal complexes, proteins, and toxins. Some molecules such
https://doi.org/10.3390/ as N-palmitoylethanolamide-oxazoline, i.e., an endogenous lipid, are able to regulate home-
life12081240 ostasis and are involved in the modulation of inflammation; consequently, this molecules
Received: 4 August 2022
were shown to reduce intestinal damage in an animal model, namely zebrafish larvae [10].
Accepted: 15 August 2022
This is an animal model with a high impact because it enables the replacement or reduction
Published: 16 August 2022
in the use of experimental mice [11].
Moreover, nanotechnology has shown promising results in the administration of
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
drugs and the improvement of their activity. In this Special Issue, Salem et al. [12] re-
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
port a study on selenium nanoparticles obtained from orange peel waste. These authors
published maps and institutional affil-
studied their properties against multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria such as P. aeruginosa,
iations.
MDR E. coli, K. pneumonia, S. aureus ATCC 29213, and MDR clinical isolates, as well as
their potential against the formation of biofilm of S. aureus clinical isolates. It is worth
noting that these nanoparticles were obtained through green and environmentally friendly
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
procedures, which is crucial in these times of environmental crisis [13]. Furthermore, a
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. controlled transport mechanism in liquid crystals reported by Santos et al. [14] demon-
This article is an open access article strates the ability to sublingually administer rifampicin, with dose control and excellent
distributed under the terms and anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis activity after seven days of treatment.
conditions of the Creative Commons Another highlight of these nanoformulations is reported by Elsewedy et al. [15]. These
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// authors developed a hydrogel based on tea tree oil nanoemulsions for the purpose of
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ improving the topical administration of neomycin, a drug used for bacterial skin infec-
4.0/). tions. They demonstrate that the formulation was stable for up to three months and that

Life 2022, 12, 1240. https://doi.org/10.3390/life12081240 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/life

Life 2022, 12, 1240 2 of 3

there was no evidence of skin irritation. Likewise, Di Filippo et al. [16] report the devel-
opment of microparticles formulated on the basis of chitosan loaded with ascorbic acid
and nicotinamide, showing good physicochemical stability and dose-regulated protective
antimicrobial activity. The authors demonstrated that there was no ex vivo permeation of
the pig ear, which is excellent for the development of cosmetic formulations for the skin.
In summary, these results allow us to appreciate the great opportunities that the use
of nanotechnology offers in the fight against MDR bacteria, improving the stability and
administration of drugs against diseases or metabolic deregulations [5].

Funding: This editorial research was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation/FAPESP (process
number #2016/00446-7; #2020/13497-4, #2018/25707-3 and #2020/16573-3).
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
Acknowledgments: The editors and collaborators of this Special Edition thank the researchers who
contributed their articles for this section, allowing us to learn more about their scientific advances.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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