Prodrugs in cardiovascular therapy.
Prodrugs are biologically inactive derivatives of an active drug intended to solve certain problems of the parent drug such as toxicity, instability, minimal solubility and non-targeting capabilities. The majority of drugs for cardiovascular diseases undergo first-pass metabolism, resulting in drug inactivation and generation of toxic metabolites, which makes them appealing targets for prodrug design. Since prodrugs undergo a chemical reaction to form the parent drug once inside the body, this makes them very effective in controlling the release of a variety of compounds to the targeted site. This review will provide the reader with an insight on the latest developments of prodrugs that are available for treating a variety of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, we will focus on several drug delivery methodologies that have merged with the prodrug approach to provide enhanced target specificity and controlled drug release with minimal side effects.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, McGill University, 3775 University Street, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A2B4.
Marinella G
MG
Sandros
Chady B
CB
Sarraf
Maryam
M
Tabrizian
D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D011355:Prodrugs / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D011355:Prodrugs