Polymer Drugs In The Clinical Stage

Proceedings of the International Symposium on Polymer Therapeutics - Recent Progress in Clinics and Future Prospects, held July 13-14, 2001, in Nara, Japan. The technology of polymer science has developed considerably during the past half-century, and this volume describes some of the aspects of this technology that will have a great impact in the future. Among these advances, for example, are gene delivery to specific disease sites and carrier polymers that respond to a stimulus or particular environment. Cancer targeted drug delivery is another focused area of this volume because of the important nature of EPR-effect of polymer drugs in tumor. Included are discussions of as many examples as possible of polymer drugs that have achieved, or are close to clinical use. The concept of "Polymer drugs" here is limited to primarily injectable and water-soluble agents, although also covered are some drugs in micellar form or liposomes. This book is intended for students and researchers in the field of pharmacology who have particular interests in drug delivery, targeting, and formulation, as well as for clinicians such as oncologists who are interested in the field. People who work at regulatory agencies should also be aware such that drugs with great potential are being developed and will be beneficial to many patients, as well as to health insurance agencies because of improved cost effectiveness.

The utilization of polymers in medicine has become a reality in the last decade. This book is a concise presentation of the fundamentals, applications, and methods of optimization of polymeric drugs and polymeric drug delivery systems for medicinal purposes. The basic rationale for the use of polymeric drugs and polymer delivery systems is the possibility to alter the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of therapeutic agents so as to maintain an adequate therapeutic environment at the site of disfunction for an extended period of time. The primary objectives for using polymeric drugs and polymeric drug delivery systems are to introduce new and efficient methods of drug administration, to improve efficacy and patient compliance, to decrease toxicity, and to ensure safety. The following factors influence the design and performance of polymers for medicinal applications: disease, drug properties, type of therapy (acute or chronic), physiology of the patient, administration route, and the site requiring therapy.

With contributions by numerous experts

Polymeric materials are now playing an increasingly important role in pharmaceuticals, as well as in sensing devices, in situ prostheses and probes, and microparticle diagnostic agents. This new volume consists of twenty-two recent research-based reports on the developments in these areas of pharmaceutical and biomaterials technology. The reports w

Polymer-Drug Conjugates: Linker Chemistry, Protocols and Applications discusses important concepts, fundamentals and prospective applications of ‘Linker Chemistry’ in a clear-and-concise manner. The book provides vital information on chemical entities binding with the drug-polymer complex for targeted drug delivery systems. It highlights roles and significance, different classes and synthetic protocols as well as mechanisms of chemical bond formation in drug-polymer conjugation in drug delivery, also offering insights into the mechanism of polymer interaction with linker and drug molecules by biodegradable chemical bonding. The protocol of binding with drug molecules is clearly explained and justified with case studies, helping researchers and advanced students in the pharmaceutical sciences understand fundamentals involved and related aspects in molecule designing for effective therapeutic benefits. Covers mechanism, protocol and therapeutic significance of Polymer-Drug Conjugates Outlines updated methods and techniques to enumerate conjugation with related case studies Includes comprehensive compilation of marketed and clinical trial drugs conjugated with polymers or linkers

Current pharmaceutical and clinical approaches to the treatment of disease suffer from the inherent limitations in the specialization of drugs introduced to physiological systems. The interface of clinical and material sciences has allowed for a broad spectrum of creative approaches with the potential to alleviate these shortcomings. However, the synergy of these disciplines also presents problems in which nascent technology lacks the necessary evaluation within its intended clinical environment. Given the growing potential for materials science to address a number of unanswered therapeutic needs, it remains even more pressing to validate emerging drug delivery technologies in actual clinical environments. Drug Delivery: Materials Design and Clinical Perspective addresses the core fundamentals of drug delivery using material science and engineering principles, and then applies this knowledge using prominent examples from both the scientific literature and clinical practice. Each chapter focuses on a specific drug delivery technology, such as controlled-release materials, thin-film materials, or smart materials. Within each chapter, an initial section on “Engineering Concepts” reviews the relevant fundamental principles that guide rational design. The following section on “Materials Design” discusses how the design process applies engineering concepts for use in physiological systems. A third section on “Implementation” discusses current approaches in the literature which have demonstrated effective drug delivery in controlled environments. Finally, each chapter contains several sections on “Clinical Applications” which describe the validity of materials approaches from a clinical perspective; these sections review the safety and efficacy of drug delivery systems for specific, compelling medical applications. The book thereby bridges materials science with clinical medicine, and provides the reader with a bench-to-bedside view of novel drug delivery systems. · Provides a comprehensive description of drug delivery systems from a materials perspective · Includes a wide-ranging discussion of clinical applications of drug delivery systems · Presents separate chapters on controlled release materials, thin film materials, self-microemulsifying materials, smart materials, etc. · Covers fundamental engineering principles, rational materials design, implementation testing, and clinical applications for each material type

Polymers for Controlled Drug Delivery addresses the challenges of designing macromolecules that deliver therapeutic agents that function safely and in concert with living organisms. The book primarily discusses classes of polymers and polymeric vehicles, including particulates, such as latexes, coacervates, ion-exchange resins, and liposomes, as well as non-particulate vehicles such as enteric coatings, mediators, and bioadhesives. Other topics discussed include diffusion; biodegradation-controlled delivery; animal model studies for toxicity, metabolism, and elimination testing; and FDA requirements for clinical studies. Drug delivery researchers will find this book to be an invaluable reference tool.