Carriers for the tunable release of therapeutics: etymological classification and examples

摘要

The increasing incidence of chronic diseases coupled with the incentives to improve the quality of life has attributed to the development of advanced biomaterials [1-3]. Over the past several decades, metals, polymers, ceramics, and bio-derived materials have been extensively studied and used as medical implants. Such materials can be designed for a wide range of biomedical applications, e.g., controlled drug delivery devices, tissue engineering constructs, vascular grafts and multiple other therapeutic, regenerative, and/ or diagnostic platforms. However, the ability of materials scientists to fine-tune the structure of materials to desired mechanical or electromagnetic properties has surpassed the ability to fine-tune them to exhibit complex kinetics of release of therapeutic molecules.