Importance

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Abstract

A composition and method for targeting and applying drugs or medication to a select location or locations within a living being. Drug units are produced, each of which is formed of at least one antibody, such as a monoclonal antibody, a small quantity of a medication such as a chemical or organic material and a small quantity of a nuclide which is normally inactive but which may be rendered explosively radioactive when targeted within a living body by external radiation passed through the body to the drug unit. When so rendered radioactive, the medication is released to infiltrate or be absorbed by surrounding tissue. In a particular form, the system also includes means for detecting the location or locations of concentrations of such drug units within the body and controlling the generation and direction of activating radiation passed through the body from an external source to cause the nuclide material existing in each drug unit to become radioactive and, in so doing, to effect the controlled or immediate release of medication from the drug unit. In yet another form, drug units are formed of microcapsules, such as microballoons made of biodegradable material containing one or more medications, biological elements or diagnostic material such as a dye or radioactive tracing chemical, releasable from encapsulation after the drug units have become targeted to specific antigenic material when the encapsulation material biodegrades under the action of body fluid.

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First Claim