Medicine has never been one-size-fits-all. Delivery shouldn’t be either.
In a recent Strive Sessions webinar, clinical pharmacist Rob Khaler shared a new liposomal platform we’ve been working on to expand oral delivery possibilities within care plans. This recap focuses on the context behind the technology and why it’s relevant to today’s compounding industry.
Innovation in personalized medicine shouldn’t stop at formulation; it can also revolutionize how medications are delivered.
Liposomal Delivery in Compounding: What Providers Should Know
Compounding exists to address real-world constraints—shortages, formulation limitations, and patient-specific considerations. One challenge we see repeatedly is difficult access to medications when injectable routes aren’t a good fit.
Oral medication delivery is a familiar route and one that many patients find more comfortable and approachable. However, it has traditionally faced major challenges such as the harsh environment of gastrointestinal tract, enzymatic breakdown, and absorption challenges. This environment can be harsh and unpredictable, posing difficulties for medications that are sensitive, unstable, or easily degraded.
That’s where liposomes come in.
Liposomes are microscopic, lipid-based structures designed to help protect and promote absorption of compounds as they move through the digestion tract. They’ve been discussed in pharmaceutical science for decades, but one thing our webinar makes clear is this: liposomal delivery isn’t limited to a single category. Design choices matter, and those choices can vary widely, impacting possibilities for the future of oral delivery.
Understanding Liposomes: Structure and Design
One of the main areas we wanted to spend time on in this session was the structure of liposomal technology.
Rob walks through how liposomes are built and why that architecture matters. Single-layer liposomal designs behave differently from multi-layer structures once they encounter real-world conditions like changes in pH and enzymatic activity. Those differences can influence how compounds are protected, how they move through the digestive tract, and how consistently they behave from batch to batch.
Rather than treating “liposomal” as a label, the session encourages providers to understand how liposomes are constructed, how uniform those structures are, and how design decisions may shape uptake pathways.
That distinction is central to how we approached this platform.
Exploring Solid-State Liposomal Formulation
Most commercially available liposomal products rely on liquid suspensions. We took a different approach.
In the webinar, we introduce a solid-state, chewable format designed to support consistency while maintaining liposomal integrity. This wasn’t a theoretical exercise. It was developed out of very practical questions around formulation stability, handling, and predictability.
The session looks at how a solid-state format may support consistent formulation behavior, without positioning it as a replacement for other delivery methods. It’s another option, nothing more, but when it comes to patient access, comfort, and possibilities? Nothing less.
Liposomal Particle Size and Oral Uptake Pathways
“What’s important with liposomes is to note that size and uniformity matter.” - Rob Khaler, Clinical Pharmacist, Strive Pharmacy
Another element of discussing liposomes that often goes overlooked is just how much particle size comes into play.
Liposomes, when engineered across a range of sizes, may interact differently with intestinal tissues and lymphatic pathways. In the session, Rob walks through how this platform was characterized with size and uniformity in mind, using batch-level data to show what consistency actually looks like in practice.
We won’t recreate the charts here, but they’re worth checking out in the webinar.
Considerations for Providers Using Liposomal Formulations
This platform, at its core, is about creating more options.
It may be relevant for patients who prefer oral routes, for formulations involving delicate molecules, or for clinical scenarios where delivery flexibility matters. In addition to oral semaglutide, tirzepatide, and testosterone, more APIs will be introduced over time using this approach, each evaluated the same way we evaluate everything else at Strive: fit for the patient and fit for purpose.
Join the Provider Waitlist for Liposomal Formulations
Providers interested in offering liposomes in their practice can join the Strive waitlist to receive updates on future availability. Sign up here.
The information provided in this article is for informational and educational purposes only.Compounded medications are specially prepared for individual patient needs and, as such, have not been reviewed or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The statements in this article have not been evaluated by the FDA. Prescribers should use their independent clinical judgment when determining appropriateness for individual patients.
