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About
Targeted drug delivery, which also refers to drug targeting or site specific drug delivery, is to site-specifically deliver or activate the therapeutic compounds in the site of action. Thus, the targeted drug delivery is expected to enhance drug efficacy by increasing local active drug concentration in disease tissues and to decrease side effects by minimizing drug exposure in normal tissues. Several targeted drug delivery technologies have been studied for enhancing drug efficacy and reducing drug toxicity, which have achieved certain degree of success. These technologies include: intratumoral drug administration, liposomal drug delivery, tumor-activated prodrug therapy, antibody-directed enzyme prodrug therapy, gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy, folate-targeted drug delivery, transferrin targeted drug delivery, albumin-drug conjugate for targeted delivery, and prodrug targeted delivery.
Prodrug strategies have traditionally been used to address ADMET liabilities of marketed compounds or as tools in late-stage problem solving for drug development candidates. However, prodrugs are now increasingly being integrated into early drug discovery as a means of expanding the chemical space of drugable molecules.
The goals of the Targeted Drug Delivery and Prodrug focus group (TDDP FG) are to expand drug-targeting technologies and prodrug knowledge through education, impact the direction of targeted drug delivery and prodrug research through long-range programming, encourage interdisciplinary collaborations, encourage innovative use of new technologies to solve drug targeting problems, and provide a common forum for universities, industry, and government.
The TDDP FG was evolved from the prodrug focus group, which was formed in 2004.
Goals
- Expand targeted drug delivery and prodrug knowledge through education.
- Impact the direction of drug targeting and prodrug research through long-range programming.
- Encourage interdisciplinary collaborations in drug targeting technologies and prodrug research.
- Encourage innovative use of new technologies to solve drug targeting and prodrug problems.
- Provide a common forum for universities, industry, and government.
To achieve these goals, we will:
- develop interdisciplinary programming between PPB, PPDM, and DDDI;
- develop a young and sustainable leadership pool;
- plan an intermediate-range program so researchers can anticipate future forums for innovative research;
- provide an inclusive environment for programming ideas into workshops, symposia, roundtables, and short courses;
- foster interdisciplinary collaborations and research that, in turn, would advance the discipline, health care, consumer interests, and AAPS programming quality. Our working assumption is that by providing such a forum for targeted drug delivery and prodrug designers in the areas of targeted drug delivery; site specific drug activation; metabolism; chemical synthesis; molecular biology; biotechnology; drug safety; clinical trial testing; and drug approval and regulation.
Drug targeting and prodrugs will be used more often and sooner as a means of enhancing drug efficacy, reducing drug toxicity, overcoming the physical/chemical liabilities of active therapeutic agents so that more innovative therapies will reach the market place.
Section affiliations: DDDI | PPB | PPDM