Transformative Biotechnological Frontiers in Modern Therapeutic Discovery and Drug Development: A Scoping Review (2015 - 2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58574/jaa.2026.v5.i1.15Keywords:
Scoping Review, Drug Discovery, CRISPR-Cas9, AlphaFold, CAR-T Therapy, Nanoparticles, PROTACsAbstract
This scoping review examines major biotechnological innovations that transformed pharmaceutical research and development between 2015 and 2025. The review focuses on six rapidly advancing domains: CRISPR-based genome editing, RNA therapeutics, monoclonal antibody engineering, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery, organ-on-chip (OoC) and organoid systems, and nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery. A systematic search following PRISMA-ScR guidelines identified 64 relevant studies from PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases.
The findings demonstrate that these technologies are advancing independently while also increasingly converging. CRISPR-Cas9 reached a major milestone, getting approved by the FDA for sickle cell anaemia in 2023, while newer genome-editing approaches, such as base and prime editing, are progressing through clinical trials. RNA therapeutics, especially mRNA-lipid nanoparticle platforms, gained global recognition through COVID-19 vaccines and are now being applied in cancer immunotherapy and rare disease treatment. Monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics, including bispecific variants and antibody-drug conjugates, maintain a dominant position in the global pharmaceutical market. Concurrently, the emergence of AI frameworks like AlphaFold 3 is significantly expediting drug development through precise biomolecular structure prediction and innovative molecular engineering
Additionally, OoC systems and nanoparticle-based delivery platforms are improving disease modelling and targeted therapeutics. Despite remarkable progress, challenges, including regulatory issues, scalability, translational barriers, and algorithmic bias, remain significant concerns.
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