Recent Progress in Polymer Therapeutics as Nanomedicines - Harnessing Biomaterials in Nanomedicine: Preparation, Toxicity, and Applications - page 103

Supratek
Pharma Inc.

Carcinoma
of the
oesophagus,
Adenocarcinoma
of the upper
gastrointestinal
tract

SP1049C
(phase II)

Pluronic-
doxorubicin

Polymer-nucleic acid complexes

Eyetech
Pharmaceuticals,
Inc./Pfizer, Inc.

Macular
degeneration
(wet AMD)

Pegaptanib,
Macugen
(approved)

PEGylated
neutralizing RNA
aptamer for vascular
endothelial growth
factor (VEGF)

Calando
Pharmaceuticals

Various solid
tumors

CALAA-01
(phase I)

siRNA against
RRM2 complexed
with cyclodextrin
adamantine-
PEG/ transferrin
complexes

4.5.2 Dendrimers

Although self-assembling aggregates show many advantages as
drug delivery vehicles, they often suff er from low stability under
shear force and dilution, which are important environmental
eff ects in drug administration. An interesting alternative is the use
of dendrimers that are practically unimolecular micelles. A typical
dendrimer comprises a multifunctional central core, branched units
and surface groups, all covalently attached. The repeated layers are
termed “generations” (G) and are related to the number of steps
in the synthesis, i.e., the number of brunching points between the
core and the surface (Figure 4.1E). Dendrimers are monodisperse,
and their size can be set between 5 and 20 nm [141] depending on
choice of components and number of generations. Small hydrophobic
drugs can be encapsulated at the inner cavity of the dendrimers,
while combination of drugs, DNA/RNA, targeting, solubilizing, or
imaging moieties, can be attached to the surface groups covalently
or electrostatically.