1993 SYNTEX-AWARD LECTURE - PHOTOMEDICINE AND PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the treatment of diseased tissue and cells using a photosensitizer and visible light. Such photomedical treatments have been known since the time of the ancient Egyptians but it was only just this year that this therapeutic modality was made available to modern medicine with the approval, in Canada, of Photofrin(R) for the treatment of bladder cancer. This paper reviews PDT with an emphasis on drug development, particulary for the second generation drugs, especially BPDMA (benzoporphyrin derivative-mono acid), which is now in human clinical trials.