During the last years, liposomes (microparticulate phospholipid vesicles) have been used with growing success as pharmaceutical carriers for antineoplastic drugs. Fields of application include lipid-based formulations to enhance the solubility of poorly soluble antitumor drugs, the use of pegylated liposomes for passive targeting of solid tumors as well as vector-conjugated liposomal carriers f...

In recent years there has been significant new interest in the development of transmucosal (mostly oral) pharmaceutical formulations for the delivery of therapeutic proteins. Emphasis has been given to the molecular design of new carriers for the delivery of insulin, calcitonin and various types of interferons for the treatment of diabetes, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis and cancer. Most popu...

The past decade has seen growing interest in the investigation of peptides with antimicrobial activity (AMPs). One approach utilized in infection control is incorporation of antimicrobial agents conjugated with the polymers. This review presents the recent developments on polymeric AMP carriers and their potential applications in the biomedical and pharmaceutical fields.

This paper highlights the importance of lipid-based colloidal carriers and their pharmaceutical implications in the delivery of peptides and proteins for oral and parenteral administration. There are several examples of biomacromolecules used nowadays in the therapeutics, which are promising candidates to be delivered by means of liposomes and lipid nanoparticles, such as solid lipid nanopartic...

The novel carriers have been exploited through almost all the routes of administration. Association of drugs with carriers is normally noncovalent, based on collective strength of weak binding forces. Many newer carriers are evolving with the advent of technology and the demand of targeted delivery like microemulsions. Microemulsions are clear, stable, isotropic mixtures of oil, water and surfa...

This article aims at making a bridge between the theory of optimal auditing and current procedures applied to audit files in different markets where scoring is the instrument used to implement an audit strategy. The literature has not yet developed an optimal audit policy for the scoring methodology. Our application is meant for the audit of insurance fraud but can be applied to many other acti...

The AIDS crisis has brought to public notice what has always been generally true—that the existing business model for drug development leads to high prices and unequal access. There is now widespread dissatisfaction with drug prices in both the developed (Families USA 2003) and developing world (Correa 2000). Governments and health insurers are fi nding ways to deny access to the newest and pri...

Editorials 4 In response to requests for the funding of new drugs, reimbursement agencies are re-evaluating some of the methods used in assessing these products. Many trials submitted for the regulatory review of new drugs do not provide adequate data for subsidy decisions. We argue that all involved in bringing medicines to market need to be explicit about the additional information required, ...

Injection is one of the most common medical procedures in the health sector. Annually up to 16 billion injections are prescribed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), many of them are not necessary for the patients, increase the healthcare costs and may result in side effects. Currently over 40% of outpatient prescriptions in Iran contain at least one injectable medicine. To address the ...