Remote loading of anthracyclines into liposomes.

The following chapter introduces a remote loading procedure for anthracyclines focussing on the well-established drug doxorubicin. The key advantage of remote loading is that it leads to higher drug to lipid ratios and encapsulation efficiencies compared to conventional passive trapping techniques like hydration of dried lipid films with aqueous drug solutions. The method presented is appropriate to produce sterile liposomal doxorubicin formulations with a final concentration of 2 mg/mL doxorubicin, which can be applied not only in vitro but also in vivo.