Recently, growing interest in polymers (natural and synthetic) as drug carriers in controlled release formulations and drug targeting systems that may improve the efficacy of treatment and reduce the side effects of a drug therapy, has been observed. Special attention has been paid to improving the effectiveness of antibiotics, which constitute a very important, often life-saving group of drugs. In this paper, we review polymers as macromolecular carriers of fluoroquinolones, a group of antibiotics with a broad spectrum of activity. We consider both physical intermixtures and chemical conjugates, although we discuss in greater depth the latter type of coupling, in which covalent bonds between drug molecules and polymers occur.
Keywords: Antimicrobial activity; Biodegradable polymers; Biomedical polymers; Drug delivery systems; Fluoroquinolones; Polymeric carriers.
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