Drug Delivery Systems: Entering the Mainstream

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 303; no. 5665; pp. 1818 - 1822
• Main Authors: Allen, Theresa M., Cullis, Pieter R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 19.03.2004; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Antineoplastics; Bioavailability; Biological Availability; Delivery Systems; Drug carriers; Drug Carriers - adverse effects; Drug Carriers - chemistry; Drug Carriers - pharmacokinetics; Drug Carriers - therapeutic use; Drug Costs; Drug Delivery Systems; Drug infusion implants; Drug Stability; Drugs; Endothelial cells; genomics; Liposomes; Medical treatment; Molecules; nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Narcotics; Particulate matter; Pharmaceutical industry; Pharmaceutical Preparations - administration & dosage; Pharmacokinetics; Pharmacology; Polymers; proteomics; Reviews and Viewpoints; Side effects; Tissue Distribution; Tumors; British Columbia
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1095833

Drug delivery systems (DDS) such as lipid- or polymer-based nanoparticles can be designed to improve the pharmacological and therapeutic properties of drugs administered parenterally. Many of the early problems that hindered the clinical applications of particulate DDS have been overcome, with several DDS formulations of anticancer and antifungal drugs now approved for clinical use. Furthermore, there is considerable interest in exploiting the advantages of DDS for in vivo delivery of new drugs derived from proteomics or genomics research and for their use in ligand-targeted therapeutics.