Microparticles and nanoparticles for drug delivery

Abstract Particulate drug delivery systems have become important in experimental pharmaceutics and clinical medicine. The distinction is often made between micro‐ and nanoparticles, being particles with dimensions best described in micrometers and nanometers respectively. That size difference entails real differences at many levels, from formulation to in vivo usage. Here I will discuss those differences and provide examples of applications, for local and systemic drug delivery. I will outline a number of challenges of interest in particulate drug delivery. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007;96: 203–209. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.