Drug delivery systems to fight cancer

Abstract

The delivery system is as important as the active substance, and it becomes all the more important when it comes to cancer chemotherapy. An ideal systemic delivery vehicle is expected to minimize systemic burden while concentrating in the tumor, however, this is far from reality. On the contrary, implantable delivery systems can deliver drug regionally, avoiding nontarget tissue distribution and minimizing the dose, but such treatments are restricted to certain anatomic sites. This chapter provides a state of the art review of current developments in this area.