Abstract
The fields of polymer and pharmaceutical chemistry have become of critical importance for clinical drug delivery, allowing for a significant improvement in the way that drugs are administered. In particular, polymer-based nanomedicines show immense promise for achieving the 'holy grail' of pharmaceutical science: site-specific delivery of active molecules with no off-target effects. This short review highlights some recent notable examples and strategies towards fulfilling this aim, focussing on drug delivery systems constructed through polymerisation techniques such as Ring Opening Polymerisations (ROP) and controlled radical polymerisations. We further consider inherently therapeutic polymers, supramolecular assemblies and nanoparticle formulation techniques, with a final outlook towards the eventual commercialisation of nanoparticle therapeutics.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 38-42 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Chimica Oggi/Chemistry Today |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2018 |
Keywords
- Drug delivery
- Formulation strategies
- Nanoparticles
- Polymer therapeutics
- Polymerisation techniques
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry