Clinical Delivery of Therapeutic Agents Based on Metals

Metals have been used in clinical practice for hundreds of years and for a variety of indications. Although potent agents whose activity may be adapted by manipulation of their chemistry and that of associated ligands, their use has been limited by toxic effects. There is now a burgeoning series of delivery technologies available which may be adapted to the administration of metal based drugs. Together with greater understanding of metal chemistry and their mechanisms of action in disease processes, there is an opportunity to increase the use of metals in medicine by targeting their action more effectively to the therapeutic site and/or protecting the body from toxic effects.