Non-heparin glycosaminoglycan-derived drugs: a biochemical and pharmacologic perspective

The developments in the area of glycosaminoglycan derived drugs can be summarized in the following: 1. Currently available glycosaminoglycan-derived drugs represent a first generation of clinically useful agents. At present these agents are not optimized and their basic and clinical pharmacology is poorly understood. 2. Most of these agents represent mixtures of different types of glycosaminoglycans. They can be purified to isolate their active components and perhaps many new drugs may be developed from the existing products. 3. Chemical derivatization and fractionation methods can be used to obtain more defined products. These products will be developed for specific clinical indications. 4. Each glycosaminoglycan derived product should be considered as an individual drug and should be developed separately. 5. Many semisynthetic and synthetic analogs of glycosaminoglycans will be introduced for various clinical indications.