Hydrogels in drug delivery: Progress and challenges

There has been considerable progress in recent years in addressing the clinical and pharmacological limitations of hydrogels for drug delivery applications but substantial challenges remain. Here we discuss recent progress in overcoming these challenges, particularly with regards to effectively delivering hydrogels inside the body without implantation, prolonging the release kinetics of drugs from hydrogels, and expanding the nature of drugs which can be delivered using hydrogel-based approaches. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.