Macromed Incorporated

Ramesh C Rathi

Gaylen M Zentner

Byeongmoon Jeong

A water soluble, biodegradable ABA- or BAB-type tri-block polymer is disclosed that is made up of a major amount of a hydrophobic A polymer block made of a biodegradable polyester and a minor amount of a hydrophilic polyethylene glycol(PEG) B polymer block, having an overall average molecular weight of between about 2000 and 4990, and that possesses reverse thermal gelation properties. Effective concentrations of the tri-block polymer and a drug may be uniformly contained in an aqueous phase to form a drug delivery composition. At temperatures below the gelation temperature of the tri-block polymer the composition is a liquid and at temperatures at or above the gelation temperature the composition is a gel or semi-solid. The composition may be administered to a warm-blooded animal as a liquid by parenteral, ocular, topical, inhalation, transdermal, vaginal, transurethral, rectal, nasal, oral, pulmonary or aural delivery means and is a gel at body temperature. The composition may also be administered as a gel. The drug is released at a controlled rate from the gel which biodegrades into non-toxic products. The release rate of the drug may be adjusted by changing various parameters such as hydrophobic/hydrophilic component content, polymer concentration, molecular weight and polydispersity of the tri-block polymer. Because the tri-block polymer is amphiphilic, it functions to increase the solubility and/or stability of drugs in the composition.

Biodegradable low molecular weight triblock poly(lactide-co- glycolide) polyethylene glycol copolymers having reverse thermal gelation properties

A water soluble biodegradable ABA- or BAB-type triblock polymer is disclosed that is made up of a major amount of a hydrophobic polymer made of a poly(lactide-co-glycolide) copolymer or poly(lactide) polymer as the A-blocks and a minor amount of a hydrophilic polyethylene glycol polymer B-block, having an overall weight average molecular weight of between about 2000 and 4990, and that possesses reverse thermal gelation properties. Effective concentrations of the triblock polymer and a drug may be uniformly contained in an aqueous phase to form a drug delivery composition. At temperatures below the gelation temperature of the triblock polymer the composition is a liquid and at temperatures at or above the gelation temperature the composition is a gel or semi-solid. The composition may be administered to a warm-blooded animal as a liquid by parenteral, ocular, topical, inhalation, transdermal, vaginal, transurethral, rectal, nasal, oral, pulmonary or aural delivery means and is a gel at body temperature. The composition may also be administered as a gel. The drug is released at a controlled rate from the gel which biodegrades into non-toxic products. The release rate of the drug may be adjusted by changing various parameters such as hydrophobic/hydrophilic componenet content, polymer concentration, molecular weight and polydispersity of the triblock polymer. Because the triblock polymer is amphiphilic, it functions to increase the solubility and/or stability of drugs in the composition.

Biodegradable low molecular weight triblock poly (lactide-co-glycolide)

A water soluble biodegradable ABA-type block copolymer made up of a major amount of hydrophobic poly(lactide-co-glycolide) copolymer A-blocks and a minor amount of a hydrophilic polyethylene glycol polymer B-block, having an overall average molecular weight of between about 3100 and 4500, possesses reverse thermal gelation properties. Effective concentrations of the block copolymer and a drug may be uniformly contained in an aqueous phase to form a drug delivery composition. At temperatures below the gelation temperature of the copolymer the composition is a liquid and at temperatures at or above the gelation temperature the composition is a gel or semi-solid. The gelation temperature is preferably at or below body temperature of a warm-blooded animal. The composition may be administered to a warm-blooded animal as a liquid by parenteral, ocular, topical, transdermal, vaginal, transurethral, rectal, nasal, oral, or aural delivery means and is a gel at body temperature. The composition may also be administered as a gel. The drug is released at a controlled rate from the gel which biodegrades into non-toxic products. The release rate of the drug may be adjusted by changing various parameters such as hydrophobic/hydrophilic component content, copolymer concentration, molecular weight and polydispersity of the block copolymer. Because the copolymer is amphiphilic it functions to increase the solubility and/or stability of drugs in the composition.

Growing community of inventors

Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America

Ramesh C Rathi