Advances of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) and the application in drug delivery

The development of new materials and new technologies is indispensable to the research of new drug delivery systems. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP), synthesized via molecular imprinting technique (MIT) have attracted much attention in pharmaceutical fields due to its distinct advantages. In recent years, it has been found that these MIP-based drug delivery systems (MIP-DDS) can improve the therapeutic efficacy of the drugs as a new strategy for delivering therapeutic agents with desired controlled release and/or targeting efficiency. The anticipated in vivo performance for the MIP-DDS can be achieved through optimizing the components or by surface modification. What’s more, the MIP-DDS are also easy to prepare with low production costs, good biodegradability and biocompatibility, which is very beneficial for the applications of MIP in drug delivery systems. In the paper, we aim to summarize the present state and of MIP, including the structure, components, preparation method, especially its application in drug delivery, and pointed out the prospects and challenges. The study will provide a certain reference and the direction for the follow-up study on MIP in drug delivery.