Despite the success of various prodrugs, surprisingly no other reviews except a review on amino acids as promoieties, which elaborates about amino acids as prodrugs have been published to date. Therefore, we hope that this timely review using both marketed and investigational prodrugs as examples will be of interest for scientists working in the area of drug discovery and development as well as those working in the clinic. In the present commentary we have tried to summarize the different types of promoieties available for prodrug design. The examples of prodrugs using several promoeity are discussed with their advantages and future prospects. The properties and selection of promoieties for the prodrug design is a very crucial parameter in successful prodrug design.
Key words: Promoeity, prodrug, mutual prodrug, amino acid.