Technical documentation

Polymer scientists, working closely with those in the device and medical fields, have made tremendous advances over the past 30 years in the use of synthetic materials in the body. In this article we will focus on properties of biodegradable polymers which make them ideally suited for orthopedic applications where a permanent implant is not desired. The materials with the greatest history of use are the poly(lactides) and poly(glycolides), and these will be covered in specific detail.

PolyActive is a biodegradable polymeric drug delivery system. Its biodegradability, extensive safety record and linear release properties make PolyActive an excellent technology for the controlled release of proteins and lipophilic small molecules.
Products based on PolyActive can be used for both local and systemic administration, and have applications in pharmaceutics and medical technology.

During the resorbable-polymer-boom of the 1970s and 1980s, polycaprolactone (PCL) was used extensively in the biomaterials field and a number of drug-delivery devices. Its pop- ularity was soon superseded by faster resorbable polymers which had fewer perceived disadvantages associated with long-term degradation (up to 3–4 years) and intracellular resorption pathways; consequently, PCL was almost forgotten for most of two decades. Recently, a resurgence of interest has propelled PCL back into the biomaterials-arena.

Mouth dissolving films is a new drug delivery system for oral route. This delivery system consists of a very thin oral strip, which is simply placed on the patients tongue or any oral mucosal tissue, instantly wet by saliva, film rapidly hydrates and then disintegrates and/or dissolve to release the medication. In the formulation of oral film, the most important ingredient is polymer which helps in film formation. Mainly hydrophilic polymers are used in mouth dissolving films.

US4104190

Chlorine dioxide is generated from aqueous liquids container alkali metal or alkaline earth metal chlorites, and compounds which liberate chlorine in water. Dry, stable, solid compositions, in one or two parts, can be made from these and other ingredients.

The compound chlorine dioxide (ClO2), now commercially important, is not in fact a recent discovery. The gas was first produced by Humphrey Davy in 1811 when reacting hydrochloric acid with potassium chlorate. This yielded "euchlorine", as it was then termed. Watt and Burgess, who invented alkaline pulp bleaching in 1834, mentioned euchlorine as a bleaching agent in their first patent. Chlorine dioxide then became well known as a bleach and later a disinfectant.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC) Technology Testing and Evaluation Program (TTEP) helps to protect human health and the environment from adverse impacts of terrorist acts by carrying out performance tests on homeland security technologies. TTEP recently evaluated the performance of liquid and foam decontamination technologies under vendor-specified application conditions to decontaminate test coupons prepared from the materials listed below.

WO2000035276

Disclosed are cyanoacrylate compositions comprising a compatible antimicrobial agent and, in particular, a compatible iodine containing antimicrobial agent. These compositions provide for in situ formation of an antimicrobial polymeric cyanoacrylate film on mammalian skin.

This study reports the effect of exposure to liquid carbon dioxide on the mechanical properties of selected medical polymers. The tensile strengths and moduli of fourteen polymers are reported. Materials were exposed to liquid CO2, or CO2 + trace amounts of aqueous H2O2, at 6.5 MPa and ambient temperature. Carbon dioxide uptake, swelling, and distortion were observed for the more amorphous polymers while polymers with higher crystallinity showed little effect from CO2 exposure.

US20120045604

A multi-layer, biodegradable film is disclosed. The multi-layer, biodegradable film contains a biodegradable core layer and a biodegradable pressure sensitive adhesive layer. The film may further contain a biodegradable, printable layer and a release liner.

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