Dual-Action Metal Complexes: Emerging Approaches in Pharmacology and Pharmaceutics
A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Targeting and Design".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 41
Special Issue Editors
Interests: bioinorganic chemistry; drug discovery; antimicrobial properties; safety assesment; computational chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: medicinal chemistry; antitumor assessment; genotoxicity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Infectious diseases caused by antimicrobial-resistant strains have emerged as a global health challenge. Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. Addressing unmet medical needs drives the exploration of alternative and more effective therapies through innovative approaches in drug design. The growing interest in the development of metallodrugs within the field of Bioinorganic Chemistry has been driven by the effectiveness of an arsenic-based antimicrobial agent (salvarsan) and a platinum-based antitumor agent (cisplatin). Coordination compounds with dual (antimicrobial and antitumor) action can show improved activity compared to the parental organic ligand. Moreover, these compounds could be active against multidrug-resistant strains and refractory cancer types combining several mechanisms of action in a single molecule. Furthermore, the optimization stage in the design of novel drugs must consider not only their biological/pharmacological evaluation, but also other key aspects of pharmaceutical interest such as safety, bioavailability, stability, and scalability. Metal complexes are increasingly used in drug delivery due to their unique properties, allowing for targeted and controlled release of therapeutic agents. They can be designed to interact with biological molecules in specific ways, leading to enhanced therapeutic effects and reduced side effects.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and review articles that are focused on metal complexes with antimicrobial and/or antitumor properties are welcome. Along with the synthesis, characterization and biological assessment, the inclusion of toxicity, stability and bioavailability studies of metal complexes and their incorporation in pharmaceutical formulations is desirable. Pharmaceutics invites submissions related to pharmaceutical formulation, process development, drug delivery, pharmacokinetics, and biopharmaceutics, while Future Pharmacology encourages contributions centered on drug discovery, pharmacology and toxicology.
You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Future Pharmacology.
Dr. Juan José Martínez Medina
Dr. Ana Laura Di Virgilio
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- coordination compounds
- drug design
- antimicrobial activity
- antitumor activity
- safety assessment
- mechanism of action
- antibiofilm activity
- synergism
- drug delivery
- pharmaceutical formulation
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