Novel controlled drug release biodegradable polymers systems

Biodegradable polymers, in particular polylactide and polyglycolide systems, having started out predominantly in the degradable sutures market, are now finding increasing use for controlled drug delivery and tissue engineering, where their use as temporary substrates or devices provides significant therapeutic advantages. The idea of using them as micro particles to prolong delivery of drugs have already been commercialized. This paper describes some work focusing on using these polymers as novel structures for localized and multiple drug delivery. The development of a dual drug eluting stent will be described to treat stenosis of coronary blood vessels, pulmonary airways or urological passages. The stents are inserted non invasively into and anchored to be resident in the body for a prescribed period to release drugs according to a prescribed profile and bio-erosion rate, hence eliminating the need for a second surgical procedure. Another application presented is the development of novel copolymers of PLA particles with stealth ability to evade the immune system and hence achieve protracted blood lifetimes, allowing efficacious therapy in especially cancer treatment. With suitable modifications, such nanoparticles may also be made to act as non-viral gene vectors to be used in delivering gene payloads to the nucleus.