New Delivery Systems for Controlled Drug Release from Naturally Occuring Materials

This book discusses the use of natural materials not only for the development of novel drug delivery systems applications but also for scaffold-base drug delivery used in tissue engineering. Previously biomaterials were selected primarily for their physical properties and not for delivery of active ingredients in biological systems. Natural materials containing proteins and polysaccharides are considered to be more biocompatible and less thrombogenic and inflammatory. The novel technologies describe in this text have the unique advantage of keeping drug levels within defined ranges in a localized manner. This is accomplished while maintaining overall biocompatibility in the in vivo environment. Thus it becomes possible to increase drug efficiency and decrease the potential for adverse reactions simultaneously, in contrast to traditional formulations that require the addition of inert materials. Such technologies are finding broad application not only in the pharmaceutical industry but also in transplantation and regeneration medicine. Scientists and engineers in industry, government, and academia who are interested in the development of novel drug delivery systems and regeneration technologies from natural materials should find this book useful.