Quest for the Holy Grail to cure arthritis and osteoporosis: Emphasis on bone drug delivery systems

The number of new medications to treat and even prevent arthritis and osteoporosis has expanded dramatically in recent years. Where once there were only surgical options to treat such end-stage diseases, there are now treatments targeted at the early steps in musculoskeletal pathophysiology. The use of different modalities to maximize drug access to specific bone tissues has created a golden opportunity for mechanistic studies in drug delivery systems for treating osteoporosis and other musculoskeletal diseases. This theme issue provides a timely analysis of the challenges and accomplishments in delivering medicine to the target sites in the musculoskeletal system and also provides a preview of what may come in the future for musculoskeletal medicine. As the number of animal studies and clinical trials is on the rise, the possibility to prevent or even cure the aforementioned disorders has never been closer. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.