Drug Delivery Systems and Their Potential for Use in Battlefield Situations

摘要

Different types of medication and drug delivery systems that could be used in battlefield situations are compared and discussed. Rapidly acting therapies that are easy to administer are required for acute injuries, while prolonged therapy would be needed for prophylactic treatments, for example with antimicrobial therapies when exposed to microbiological weapons, or health maintenance after the acute phase of treatment of a battlefield injury. To give prolonged therapy, depot injections, implants and transdermal patches (the latter having the advantage of allowing rapid discontinuation of therapy) could be used. The development of biological products from advances in biotechnology and the advanced drug delivery systems required to deliver them using the emerging nano- and targeting technology, provide new opportunities for therapies that could find use in a conflict situation.