Abstract
Many years has already passed since the concept of DDS was first introduced into the field of pharmaceutical formulation development from the viewpoint of optimized pharmacotherapy. Recently, drug delivery technology has been attracting much attention as an effective tool for practicing the lifecycle management of pharmaceutical products. Indeed, the escalating cost of drug development and the increasing threats from generics after patent expiration necessitate aggressive lifecycle management strategies. Drug delivery has proven to be a viable and cost effective tool for extending a product's lifecycle, and many DDS products are now under development. In this paper, the importance of product lifecycle management utilizing drug delivery in the pharmaceutical production is addressed, and also the recent trend of the development of drug delivery systems are reviewed.
