Polymeric Drugs: A Novel Approach to Drug Delivery System

This review article describes the current status and recent advances of polymeric drugs with regard to their application in drug delivery system. Essentially polymer-drug conjugation aims to achieve improved drug targeting, decrease drug toxicity and overcome mechanisms of drug resistance. First generation conjugates used linear monomethoxy PEGs and other linear polymers. Modern polymeric chemistry is increasingly producing new polymeric architectures such as dendrimers, hyper branched polymers and hybrid macromolecular structures (such as star polymers, linear graft and dendronized linear polymers and novel therapeutic siRNA. This undoubtedly can be employed for designing of second generation polymer therapeutics. Clinical approval of products such as Copaxone, Renagel, Vivagel and Welchol have been successful in developing interest in polymer therapeutics as a growing field of research and development. In conclusion, there is emerging data that polymer drug conjugation has become useful in a wide range of treatments from infectious to chronic diseases such as cancer. Polymer therapeutics holds promising future applications in the field of nanotherapeutics.