Role of Dendrimers in Drug Delivery and Targeting

In the recent past, dendrimer based nano-devices have become an attractive center for medicinal chemists as a targeted drug delivery carrier. It is promising to specifically manipulate both molecular weight and chemical composition of dendrimers by regulating dendrimer synthesis, and thereby allowing predictable tuning of their biocompatibility and pharmacokinetics. The myriad properties and functions of dendrimers provide plenty of opportunities in this regard. Presently, the fields of oncology, infectious disease, cardiovascular diseases, ocular disease, etc. need biodegradable polymers, macromolecules based formulations to improve the safety and efficacy of different therapeutics. Dendrimer has been extensively used for treating disorders even for anti-viral therapeutics, including AIDS-HIV . The present book chapter reports the role of dendrimers in drug delivery systems for various agents, in biology and medical science. Additionally, it covers the fundamentals of dendrimeric properties and types for cancer diagnosis and other therapy.

Keywords: Dendrimers, Drug delivery, PAMAM, Therapeutics.