The profession of pharmacy has undergone enormous changes in recent decades. The function of the pharmacy has expanded to include more health services. However, the extent to which this role is fulfilled can vary. This review aims to describe the range and extent of professional pharmacy services offered in hospital pharmacies in different countries and the barriers associated with inadequate or incomplete implementation of these services.

Targeted drug delivery is an advanced method of delivering drugs to patients in such a targeted order that increases the concentration of the delivered drug only on the body part of interest (organs/tissues/cells), which in turn improves the effectiveness of the treatment while reducing side effects of drug administration. Basically, drug targeting should help the drug molecule to preferentially reach the desired site. The inherent advantage of this technique results in the administration of the required drug with its reduced dose and reduced side effect. This inherent advantage of a targeted drug delivery system is also strongly recognized by research and development in the clinical and pharmaceutical fields as the backbone of therapeutics and diagnostics. Various drug carriers that can be used in this advanced delivery system are soluble polymers, biodegradable microsphere polymers (synthetic and natural), neutrophils, fibroblasts, artificial cells, lipoproteins, liposomes, micelles, and immune micelles. The goal of a targeted drug delivery system is to prolong, localize, target, and have a protected drug interaction with the diseased.

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