ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the impressive variety of the drug delivery systems (DDS) available in the market, their route of administration, challenges and a potential development. The DDS vary in their type, indication for use and targeting a specific problem, as well as route of application and a wide number of parameters, which are hard to categorize. The direct entry into the body through the oral and pulmonary administration, transdermal entry into the body, and entry into the body through the mucosal membranes are three major routes of administration typical for the DDS. DDS safety is still a concern due to: potential toxicity of adjuvant materials, drug leakage before reaching the lesion, rapid elimination and instability in blood environment, and non-targeted drug delivery in vivo and others. Novel DDS are also used in development of nanoscale diagnostic, drug discovery devices, microchips, sequencing of nanopores.
