I  U  P  A  C

 

 

 

News & Notices

Organizations & People

Standing Committees

Divisions

Projects

Reports

Publications
. . CI
. . PAC
. . Macro. Symp.

. . Books
. . Solubility Data

Symposia

AMP

Links of Interest

Search the Site

Home Page

 

Pure Appl. Chem. 76(7-8), 1321-1335, 2004

Pure and Applied Chemistry

Vol. 76, Issues 7-8

Polymeric micelles for oral drug delivery: Why and how

M. F. Francis, M. Cristea, and F. M. Winnik

Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Montreal, C.P. 6128 Succ. Centreville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Chemistry, University of Montreal, C.P.6128 Succ. Centreville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7, Canada; Petru Poni Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Iasi 6600, Romania

Abstract: The oral delivery of drugs is regarded as the optimal means for achieving therapeutic effects owing to increased patient compliance. Unfortunately, the oral delivery route is beset with problems such as gastrointestinal (GI) destruction of labile molecules, low levels of macromolecular absorption, etc. To reduce the impact of digestive enzymes and to ensure the absorption of bioactive agents in an unaltered form, molecules may be incorporated into microparticulate carriers. Many approaches to achieve the oral absorption of a wide variety of drugs are currently under investigation. Among the different polymer-based drug delivery systems, polymeric micelles represent a promising delivery vehicle especially intended for poorly water-soluble pharmaceutical active ingredients in order to improve their oral bioavailability. Recent findings of a dextran-based polymeric micelle study for solubilization of a highly lipophilic drug, cyclosporin A (CsA), will be discussed.

*Lecture presented at the symposium "Controlling the self assembly in macromolecular systems: From nature to chemistry to functional properties", as part of the 39th IUPAC Congress and 86th Conference of the Canadian Society for Chemistry: Chemistry at the Interfaces, Ottawa, Canada, 10-15 August 2003. Other Congress presentations are published in this issue, pp. 1295-1603.


Page last modified 15 September 2004.
Copyright © 2004 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Questions or comments about IUPAC, please contact, the Secretariat.
Questions regarding the website, please contact web manager.