Chronotherapeutics – A Novel Drug Delivery Systems In The Treatment of Circadian Rhythms Diseases

Abstract

Chronotherapeutics also known as pulsatile drug delivery system deals with the study of the temporal changes in absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination and thus takes into account the influence of time of administration on these different steps and it focuses on the release of a drug after a lag time at a particular site in order to maintain constant blood levels of a particular drug matching circadian rhythms of various diseases. Circadian time dependent differences are also seen in pharmacokinetics of many classes of medications like cardiovascular active drugs, NSAID's, antidepressants, anti hypertensives, local anesthetics, H 1 and H 2 antagonists etc. The role of circadian rhythms in the mechanisms of disease and the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of medications constitutes a challenge to drugdiscovery and drug-delivery scientists. We must strive to develop intelligent drug-delivery systems that can affect a target cell or organ system at that circadian time when it is possible to optimize desired therapeutic outcomes and minimize or avert adverse effects. The recent advances in pulsatile drug delivery technology are CODAS, ACCU-BREAK, SODAS, IPDAS, DMDS Technology etc.