ABSTRACT
Increasing use is being made of scintigraphic techniques in the development and evaluation of drug delivery systems. Use of the gamma camera to image the in vivo distribution of pharmaceutical formulations radiolabelled with a suitable gamma-emitting radionuclide enables the quantification of biodistribution, and determination of sites of release and kinetics of drug delivery from novel carrier systems and devices. Combining radionuclide tracer techniques with other methods of physiological measurement allows correlation to be established between the observed pharmacological effects and the precise site of delivery. Information gained from such studies is frequently incorporated into dossiers for submission to regulatory authorities for the purposes of product registration.
