Drugs Designed for Degradation in the Environment Post Use

Abstract

Accumulation of pharmaceuticals in the environment due to slow mineralization in nature is a growing pollution problem affecting organisms and animals and humans in the long run. When pharmaceuticals are antibiotics, the problem is twofold since the buildup of such compounds in the environment also fuels the development of antibiotic resistance. Building weak structures of biologically active compounds is one way of facilitating the quicker degradation of the drug in the environment after the drug has been excreted from the patient subsequently performing its function. The emergence of the process of photodegradation post-excretion of the pharmaceutical from the patient is one method that is under development, which will facilitate a quicker breakdown of the drug. Another method to enable this is hydrolysis, which is pH-dependent and involves making up of compounds that hydrolyze quicker under certain pH conditions. To enable the ongoing efforts in making pharmaceuticals to be more benign, this focused review showcases examples from research on antimicrobial agents and anticancer agents.