Polymers for Controlled Drug Delivery addresses the challenges of designing macromolecules that deliver therapeutic agents that function safely and in concert with living organisms. The book primarily discusses classes of polymers and polymeric vehicles, including particulates, such as latexes, coacervates, ion-exchange resins, and liposomes, as well as non-particulate vehicles such as enteric coatings, mediators, and bioadhesives. Other topics discussed include diffusion; biodegradation-controlled delivery; animal model studies for toxicity, metabolism, and elimination testing; and FDA requirements for clinical studies. Drug delivery researchers will find this book to be an invaluable reference tool.

Emphasizing four major classes of polymers for drug delivery-water-soluble polymers, hydrogels, biodegradable polymers, and polymer assemblies-this reference surveys efforts to adapt, modify, and tailor polymers for challenging molecules such as poorly water-soluble compounds, peptides/proteins, and plasmid DNA.

Applications of Polymers in Drug Delivery, Second Edition, provides a comprehensive resource for anyone looking to understand how polymeric materials can be applied to current, new, and emerging drug delivery applications. Polymers play a crucial role in modulating drug delivery and have been fundamental in the successful development of many novel drug delivery systems. This book describes the development of polymeric systems, ranging from conventional dosage forms to the most recent smart systems. Regulatory and intellectual property aspects as well as the clinical applicability of polymeric drug delivery systems are also discussed. The chapters are organized by specific delivery route, offering methodical and detailed coverage throughout. This second edition has been thoroughly revised to include the latest developments in the field. This is an essential book for researchers, scientists, and advanced students, in polymer science, drug delivery, pharmacology/pharmaceuticals, materials science, tissue engineering, nanomedicine, chemistry, and biology. In industry, this book supports scientists, R&D, and other professionals, working on polymers for drug delivery applications. - Explains how polymers can be prepared and utilized for all major drug delivery routes - Presents the latest advances, including drug targeting, polymeric micelles and polymersomes, and the delivery of biologicals and nucleic acid therapeutics - Includes appendices with in-depth information on pharmaceutical properties of polymers and regulatory aspects

Polymers have played a critical role in the rational design and application of drug delivery systems that increase the efficacy and reduce the toxicity of new and conventional therapeutics. Beginning with an introduction to the fundamentals of drug delivery, Engineering Polymer Systems for Improved Drug Delivery explores traditional drug delivery techniques as well as emerging advanced drug delivery techniques. By reviewing many types of polymeric drug delivery systems, and including key points, worked examples and homework problems, this book will serve as a guide to for specialists and non-specialists as well as a graduate level text for drug delivery courses.

Modeling and Control of Drug Delivery Systems provides comprehensive coverage of various drug delivery and targeting systems and their state-of-the-art related works, ranging from theory to real-world deployment and future perspectives. Various drug delivery and targeting systems have been developed to minimize drug degradation and adverse effect and increase drug bioavailability. Site-specific drug delivery may be either an active and/or passive process. Improving delivery techniques that minimize toxicity and increase efficacy offer significant potential benefits to patients and open up new markets for pharmaceutical companies. This book will attract many researchers working in DDS field as it provides an essential source of information for pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacologists working in academia as well as in the industry. In addition, it has useful information for pharmaceutical physicians and scientists in many disciplines involved in developing DDS, such as chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, protein engineering, gene therapy. - Presents some of the latest innovations of approaches to DDS from dynamic controlled drug delivery, modeling, system analysis, optimization, control and monitoring - Provides a unique, recent and comprehensive reference on DDS with the focus on cutting-edge technologies and the latest research trends in the area - Covers the most recent works, in particular, the challenging areas related to modeling and control techniques applied to DDS

Highlighting dynamic developments in polymer synthesis, this book focuses on the chemical techniques to synthesize and characterize biomedically relevant polymers and macromolecules. • Aids researchers developing polymers and materials for biomedical applications • Describes biopolymers from a synthetic perspective, which other similar books do not do • Covers areas that include: cationically-charged macromolecules, pseudo-peptides, polydrugs and prodrugs, controlled radical polymerization, self-assembly, polycondensates, and polymers for surface modification

The concept of controlled release has attracted increasing attention over the last two decades, with the applications of this technology proliferating in diverse fields in cluding medicine, agriculture and biotechnology. Research and developmental efforts related to controlled release are multiplying in both industry and academia. The reason for this phenomenal growth is obvious. The use of a variety of biologically active agents, such as drugs, fertilizers and pesticides, has become an integral part of modern society. Along with the use of these reagents has evolved an awareness that their uncontrolled application almost inevitably induces harmful effects on the health of humans and their surrounding environments. To eliminate or minimize these harmful effects necessitates the controlled release of these chemicals. Moreover, the controlled release of substances, not usually considered toxic or hazardous, e.g., some catalysts and nutrients, can enhance their effectiveness. The number and variety of controlled release systems, differing in their physical and chemical makeup, are increasing rapidly. Proliferation almost always demands correlation, generalization and unification; it requires both the development of underlying theories of their behavior and the mechanistic interpretation of their performance. This, in turn, requires a statistical and mathematical (quantitative) treatment of the scientific information and technical data pertaining to them. A quantitative treatment can also facilitate the formulation of procedures for computer-aided design of these systems through a priori prediction of their per formance for a variety of design parameters.