Skip to main content

Prodrugs-Current and Future Drug Development Strategy | Chapter 7 | Modern Advances in Pharmaceutical Research Vol. 1

The  focus  of  traditional  prodrug  approach  was  on  altering  various  physiochemical  parameters, whereas the current modern computational approach considers designing prodrugs through attaching appropriate  linkers  with  drugs  having  poor  bioavailability  which  upon  exposure  to  physiological environments release the parent active drugs in a programmable (controlled) manner resulting in an improvement of their bioavailability. With the possibility of designing prodrugs with different linkers, the release rate of the parent active drugs can be controlled. The future of  prodrug  technology  is  exciting  and  yet  challenging. Advances must be made in understanding the chemistry of many organic reactions that can be effectively utilized to enable the development of more types of prodrugs. The understanding of organic reaction mechanisms of certain processes, particularly intramolecular reactions, will be the next major milestone in this field. It is envisioned that the future of prodrug technology holds the  ability  to  create  safe and  efficacious delivery of a wide range of active small molecules and biotherapeutics. This goal can be achieved using computational chemistry methods such as ab initio, semi-empirical and density functional theory (DFT), and molecular mechanics (MM) to calculate physicochemical and molecular  properties of current marketed drugs suffer low bioavailability or/and unpleasant taste or odor.

Author(s) Details

Professor Rafik Karaman
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Quds University, P.O. Box 20002, Jerusalem, Palestine and Department of Science, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy.

View Volume: https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/mapr/v1

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Greening Regional Airports: A Vision for Carbon Neutral Infrastructure | Chapter 12 | Contemporary Perspective on Science, Technology and Research Vol. 3

 This study provides an overview of the energy demand of a regional airport, divided into individual time horizons. The electrification of aircraft systems raises the question of whether airports will be among the largest electricity consumers in our infrastructure in the future. Sustainability and especially emission reductions are significant challenges for airports that are currently being addressed. The Clean Sky 2 project GENESIS addresses the environmental sustainability of hybrid-electric 50-passenger aircraft systems in a life cycle perspective to support the development of a technology roadmap for the transition to sustainable and competitive electric aircraft systems. This article originates from the GENESIS research and describes various options for ground power supply at a regional airport. Potential solutions for airport infrastructure with a short (2030), medium (2040), and long (2050) time horizon are proposed. In addition to the environmental and conservation benefi...

Alkali Element Modification of Glucose Molecules as a Method to Dissolve Cancer Cells | Chapter 12 | New Visions in Medicine and Medical Science Vol. 4

  The present study highlights about alkali element modification of glucose molecules as a method to dissolve cancer cells. The central regulation of the mechanisms governing cell proliferation has little effect on cancer cells. Cancer cells are entirely independent of the central command and divide and proliferate on their own, making it challenging to activate their response mechanism. Precisely, this is the reason why they are at risk to the health of humans and/or any biological entities. Instead of trying to reconnect the central command of the growth control mechanism to cancer cells that are already out of the range, we present a method of using the cancer cell’s own irresponsive and uncontrolled growth mechanism to their disadvantage and destroy the cancer cells. We found that this is achievable in an atomic/molecular level study of the glucose molecule, which is the primary food source used for growth and energy generation by all cells in the body, including the cancer cel...

Risk Factors for Postpartum Psychiatric Disorders. A Review of the Literature | Chapter 8 | New Visions in Medicine and Medical Science Vol. 4

  Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the risk factors for the development of postpartum psychiatric disorders through international literature. Materials and Methods: Throughout many articles in PubMed, Google scholar and PsycInfo, a great amount of recent data was gathered to identify the disorders that are most common as well as their risk factors. Results: After childbirth, most commonly women experience postpartum depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and postpartum psychosis. All the disorders have many similar risk-factors with the main one being preexisting psychiatric disorder and many similar symptoms too. Conclusions: Women after childbirth are at risk of experience many psychiatric disorders, such as postpartum distress, postpartum post traumatic stress disorder and even more rarely postpartum psychosis. It is important to provide comprehensive support to ensure the well-being of both the mother and the infant and this will b...