This authoritative volume explores the fundamental concepts and numerous applications of targeted delivery of drugs to the body. This compilation has been divided into eight sections comprised of the basic principles of drug targeting, disease and organ/organelle-based targeting, passive and active targeting strategies, and various advanced drug delivery tools such as functionalized lipidic, polymeric and inorganic nanocarriers. Together, the twenty-three chapters cover a wide range of topics in the field, including tumor and hepatic targeting, polymer-drug conjugates, nanoemulsion, physical and biophysical characteristics of nanoparticles, and in vivo imaging techniques, among others. The book also examines advanced characterization techniques, regulatory hurdles and toxicity-related issues that are key features for successful commercialization of targeted drug delivery system products. Targeted Drug Delivery is a comprehensive reference guide for drug delivery researchers, both beginners and those already working in the field.

This book elaborates on drug delivery targeting via intracellular delivery, specifically through the Receptor Mediated Endocytosis (RME) approach, due to the involvement of cellular receptors in various grave diseases. Targeted delivery relies on two basic approaches, passive and active targeting. While passive targeting approaches have shown great promise, the improved selectivity achieved with active targeting approaches has resulted in significantly higher efficacy. Interestingly there are numerous strategies for active targeting, many of which are already highlighted in , Targeted Drug Delivery: Concepts and Applications. Nevertheless an exciting and practical strategy for active targeting, which could enable high intracellular delivery, is through exploitation of RME. Cells in the body express receptors to enable various physiological and biochemical processes. As a result, many of these receptors are overexpressed in pathological conditions, or newer receptors expressed due to defective cellular functioning. RME is based on exploitation of such receptors to achieve intracellular delivery. While targeted delivery can have manifold applications, in this book we focus on two major and challenging therapeutic areas; i) Cancer and ii) Infectious Diseases. Targeted Intracellular Drug Delivery by Receptor Medicated Endocytosis discusses the major receptors that are useful for targeted delivery for these afflictions. A major section of this book is dedicated to details regarding their occurrence and location, the recognition domain of the receptor, structure activity relationship of substrate /ligand for selective binding, ligands explored, antagonists for ligand binding and relevance of these aspects for therapy of cancer and infectious diseases. These facets are elucidated with the help of specific examples from academic research and also emphasize commercial products, wherever relevant. In vitro cellular models relied on for assessing receptor mediated cellular targeting and in vivo models depicting clinical efficacy are focused on in a separate section. Finally, we briefly discuss the regulatory and toxicity issues that may be associated specifically with the RME approach of intracellular drug delivery.