A quiet analytical research laboratory at night, racks of glass vials along a dim bench.

Delivery Technology

A molecule with good pharmacology and bad delivery is a failed product. This section sets out the physical chemistry Vegalab works with, what multi-layer encapsulation can and cannot change, and how to read a bioavailability number honestly.

The platform

The multi-layer encapsulation page describes the core method: a core payload surrounded by up to 20 programmable biopolymer layers, each chosen for a specific job such as protease resistance, pH-triggered release, mucoadhesion, or oxidation control. Layer count, layer chemistry and particle size distribution are the design variables. That page also covers what the platform does not do, including changing a molecule's intrinsic permeability across a membrane. Layer count, chemistry and particle size are set per payload, so the page also states what the platform leaves unchanged, including a molecule's intrinsic permeability.

Route-specific limits

Oral peptide delivery is treated separately because the barriers are the hardest in the field and the honest numbers are small. That page collects the approved-product benchmarks, including oral semaglutide with the permeation enhancer SNAC at roughly 0.4 to 1% bioavailability, and explains where an encapsulated system can add value and where it cannot. Read it before assuming any peptide can be moved from injection to capsule. It also covers the sublingual, intranasal and transdermal routes, where the molecular weight limits are different again and a carrier cannot repeal them.

Comparing carriers and measuring results

Liposomes, lipid nanoparticles and polymer shells are not interchangeable, and the carriers compared page sets out stability, payload type, manufacturing burden and shelf life for each. The bioavailability page covers what an AUC ratio means, why a plasma curve for a compound with intracellular targets can mislead, and which studies a formulation partner should insist on before making any claim. Read both pages before signing off any absorption figure in marketing copy, since most published multiples in this trade are relative comparisons against a weak comparator rather than absolute bioavailability.

Key facts

  • Oral semaglutide co-formulated with the permeation enhancer SNAC has absolute bioavailability of roughly 0.4 to 1% (FDA label, Rybelsus 2019)
  • Absolute bioavailability requires an intravenous reference arm; without one, only relative bioavailability can be calculated (FDA guidance, Bioavailability Studies Submitted in NDAs or INDs: General Considerations, 2022)
  • Molecules above roughly 500 Da rarely cross intact skin in useful amounts (Bos and Meinardi 2000, Exp Dermatol 9:165)
  • Vegalab manufactures under GMP in Korea, with encapsulation architecture that is patent pending (Vegalab SA company disclosure)

How our delivery technology applies

Vegalab sells formulation capability, not molecules. The value of the multi-layer approach is that each barrier in a given route can be assigned to its own layer: an acid-resistant outer shell for gastric transit, a mucoadhesive layer for residence time, an inner matrix that protects against oxidation or proteolysis until release. Sequencing those layers is the engineering problem, and it is compound and route specific.

Bring us a molecule and a route, and we will tell you which barrier decides the outcome.

Multi-Layer Nano-Encapsulation

Vegalab's platform builds a particle in sequence rather than in one step: a payload core, then discrete biopolymer layers, up to 20, each selected for one job.

Related reading

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