Pharmacosomes--a novel drug delivery system.

Pharmacosomes are colloidal dispersions of drugs covalently bound to lipids, and may exist as ultrafine vesicular, micellar, or hexagonal aggregates, depending on the chemical structure of drug-lipid complex. It is based on the principle that the drug binds covalently to a lipid where the resulting compound is the carrier and the active compound at the same time. The physicochemical properties depend on drug as well as the lipid. This system shows low entrapment efficiency and drug leakage during storage for hydrophilic drugs. Pharmacosomes have advantages over liposomal, transferosomal, and niosomal drug delivery systems. They are mainly prepared by hand-shaking and ether injection method. The Pharmacosomes were evaluated for different parameters such as size, NMR, surface morphology and In vitro release rate. They minimize drug degradation and increase bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs. Pharmacosomes can only encapsulate the water insoluble drugs in relatively small hydrophobic regions within membrane bilayer rather than relatively large surface. Pharmacosomes are used in drug targeting in cancer and also brain targeting by using 5-flouro-2-deoxyuridine Pharmacosomes. Marketed preparations of include veterinary iron dextrans and other dextrans.