The delivery of peptides

There has been much interest recently in the delivery of peptides and proteins, accompanying the greatly increased level of research and development activities involving biotechnology‐derived drugs and other bioactive substances. A symposium devoted to this topic was organized and chaired by E. Touitou and W. I. Higuchi as part of the International Conference on Pharmaceutical Sciences and Clinical Pharmacology held in Jerusalem, Israel, May 29–June 3, 1988. Areas covered included peptide and protein absorption across the blood–brain barrier (R. T. Borchardt), gastrointestinal absorption (E. Ziv), nasal and rectal absorption (J. H. Rytting), injectable, controlled release, biodegradable delivery systems (E. Shek), and pharmacodynamic and biophysical considerations in polypeptide delivery (N. A. Mazer). The purpose of this report is to present a summary of this symposium.