A Comparative Review of Polylactic Acid and Poly(Lactic-co-Glycolic Acid) Biomaterials: Optimizing Drug Delivery

Biodegradable polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA) and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) play a crucial role in drug delivery owing to their compatibility with biological systems, controllable degradation, and adaptable formulation capabilities. This comprehensive review analyzes and contrasts PLA and PLGA in advanced drug delivery applications, highlighting their distinct characteristics and engineering techniques used to improve their therapeutic efficacy. This study explored key strategies, including surface alterations, encapsulation methods, and composite development, emphasizing how these approaches optimize drug release kinetics, targeting precision, and drug availability in the human body. In addition, this review addresses the major challenges of using PLA and PLGA, such as managing degradation, scaling up production, and ensuring immune system compatibility. Significant breakthroughs are revolutionizing medicine, especially with the emergence of adaptive “smart” drug delivery systems. These innovations represent more than incremental progress; they hold immense promise for tackling some of the most complex medical challenges. This review focuses on the design and implementation of drug delivery systems utilizing PLA and PLGA. The far-reaching impact of these systems across various disciplines is exploded, including tissue regeneration, targeted antibiotic delivery, vaccine efficacy enhancement, and improved orthopaedic treatment. The overarching aim is to guide future research toward the creation of increasingly efficacious and biocompatible methods for in vivo drug administration. Graphical Abstract