Newly Developed Prodrugs and Prodrugs in Development; an Insight of the Recent Years

Abstract

Background: The design and development of prodrugs is the most common and effective strategy to overcome pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic drawbacks of active drugs. A respected number of prodrugs have been reached the drugs market throughout history and the recent years have witnessed a significant increase in the use of prodrugs as a replacement of their parent drugs for an efficient treatment of various ailment. Methods: A Scan conducted to find recent approved prodrugs and prodrugs in development. Results: Selected prodrugs were reported and categorized in accordance to their target systems. Conclusions: the prodrug approach has shown many successes and still remains a viable and effective approach to deliver new active agents. This conclusion is supported by the recent approved prodrugs and the scan of clinical trials conducted between 2013–2018.