Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the treatment of diseased tissue a
nd cells using a photosensitizer and visible light. Such photomedical
treatments have been known since the time of the ancient Egyptians but
it was only just this year that this therapeutic modality was made av
ailable to modern medicine with the approval, in Canada, of Photofrin(
R) for the treatment of bladder cancer. This paper reviews PDT with an
emphasis on drug development, particulary for the second generation d
rugs, especially BPDMA (benzoporphyrin derivative-mono acid), which is
now in human clinical trials.