Molecular Biopharmaceutics

Book excerpt: Molecular biopharmaceutics involves the study of drug absorption, transport and delivery at the molecular level. In particular, increasing knowledge of the molecular structure and function of membrane transporter proteins and the understanding that they play a significant role in drug transport across biological membranes has lead to growing interest in this area from the pharmaceutical industry. This emerging knowledge of membrane transporter proteins has implications for understanding drug disposition and in turn for the development of more effective drug delivery strategies. The proposed text will provide an overview of the field of molecular biopharmaceutics, and will explain its importance in drug development. It will focus on describing the interplay between the chemistry of drug molecules and membrane transporters, and will guide researchers in setting up experiments that may help in understanding the mechanisms and kinetics involved in drug absorption, transport and delivery.