TARGETING TECHNOLOGIES - THE EXPANDING PATENT LITERATURE

Progress in the development of drug targeting technologies is advancin g at an ever-increasing rate as we hurtle toward the new millennium. E xamination of just the past three years of the drug delivery technolog y patent literature suggests that what was previously thought impossib le may now be a reality. As one goes through this literature, the brea dth and ingenuity of many of these approaches are obvious. As ill the inaugural article, I have grouped information gathered from this searc h into areas of mucosal targeting, organ and/or tissue targeting, tumo r targeting and focal delivery. The patent applications described in t his article represent a sampling of the work in these areas, with part icular attention being paid to a few of the more novel or intriguing c laims.