Simvastatin Delivery Challenges and Opportunities

This book presents an overview of recent developments for an "old drug", simvastatin. It belongs to the class of statins, the most commonly prescribed drugs for the treatment of dyslipidemia or related diseases, being considered of superior effectiveness for that purpose. Now, millions of patients benefit from the use of simvastatin in preventing coronary heart disease (25 million in 2005 in the United States alone). Additionally, simvastatin has been recently identified as a multifaceted drug, addressing different physiological and pathological conditions, thus extending beyond the conventional cholesterol-dependent mechanisms. It has triggered the development of new strategies in order to promote the respective delivery through novel routes of administration. In this book, a comprehensive selection of topics is presented, encompassing aspects that firstly include chemical synthesis, pharmacology and pharmacoeconomics. In the second part, several delivery systems for new therapeutic areas are explored. These comprise of nanoemulsions administered through the parenteral route, nanostructured lipid carriers for transdermal delivery and supramolecular systems for local applications. Cancer therapy and bone regeneration are some of the therapeutic targets addressed along with the classical treatment of hypercholesterolemia, now in drug combination therapies. This book benefits from the participation of recognised experts from different areas. These include researchers from pharmaceutical technology, pharmacology, synthetic chemistry, and members of regulatory boards.