In recent years we have seen increasing interest in new approaches to drug delivery with greater focus on the efficiency and flexibility of the drugs we use.
There are a variety of new methods available to help us do this (some of which I have blogged about before) including: jet injectors; micro-needles; ‘’Injecting’ from the inside’; ‘Using cellular backpacks to deliver drugs’; nano-patches and implants.
Interestingly, the recent Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering winner and chemical engineer Robert Langer has spent a good portion of his career looking at improving methods of drug delivery.
Today, I want to highlight a different approach; the use of implants as drug delivery devices. Implants offer several advantages over pills or injections, but often result in immune responses that hinder their performance.
A group of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in Bangalore, India, have developed a biodegradable polymer that acts as an anti-inflammatory agent and allows better acceptance of bio medical implants in the human body.
Continue reading Helping our bodies accept drug implants (Day 273)
