Novel methods for liposome preparation

• New methods of liposome synthesis and modifications to conventional methods reviewed.
• Methods compared based on type of liposomes and amenability to scale-up and scale-down.
• Outlook on the influence of current and future technologies on liposome preparation methods.

Liposomes are bilayer vesicles which have found use, among other applications, as drug delivery vehicles. Conventional techniques for liposome preparation and size reduction remain popular as these are simple to implement and do not require sophisticated equipment. However, issues related to scale-up for industrial production and scale-down for point-of-care applications have motivated improvements to conventional processes and have also led to the development of novel routes to liposome formation. In this article, these modified and new methods for liposome preparation have been reviewed and classified with the objective of updating the reader to recent developments in liposome production technology.