CONDUCTING POLYMERS FOR IONTOPHORETIC SELF-ADMINISTRATION DRUG DELIVERY DEVICES

ELECTRONICALLY CONDUCTING ORGANIC POLYMERS ARE A NEW CLASS OF LOW-COST, LIGHTWEIGHT CONDUCTING MATERIALS THAT HAVE A LARGE NUMBER OF IMPORTANT PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS. THESE POLYMERS ARE OF PARTICULAR INTEREST IN THE AREA OF CONTROLLED DRUG RELEASE, SINCE THEY CAN BIND AND RELEASE BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS IN RESPONSE TO AN ELECTRICAL SIGNAL. THESE POLYMERS PROVIDE A MEANS WHEREBY DRUGS CAN BE RELEASEDAT PROGRAMMED RATES THAT CAN BE TAILORED TO INDIVIDUAL NEEDSOF A PATIENT OR SWITCHED OFF IF NECESSARY. AT PRESENT, ELECTRONICALLY CONDUCTING ORGANIC POLYMERS ARE FORMED BY METHODS THAT ARE UNSUITABLE FOR COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION AND SUFFER FROM OTHER PROBLEMS THAT MAY LIMIT THEIR USE AS DRUG RELEASE MATERIALS. A RADICALLY NEW METHOD FOR FORMING ELECTRONICALLY CONDUCTING POLYMERS HAS BEEN DEVELOPED BY LYNNTECH, INC. THIS METHOD IS HIGHLY SUITED TO THE LARGE-SCALE PRODUCTION OF CONDUCTING POLYMERS AND OFFERS IMPROVED CAPABILITIES FOR LOADING AND RELEASING DRUGS FROM THESE POLYMERS. A FUNDAMENTAL SCIENTIFIC STUDY WILL BE PERFORMED TO ASSESS THE FEASIBILITY OF USING THESE NOVEL POLYMERS FOR THE CONTROLLED RELEASE OF DRUGS. THE EXPERIMENTS WILL INVOLVE THE RELEASE OF ANIONS THYROTROPIN-RELEASING HORMONE (TRH) AND INSULIN. THE OVERALL AIM IS TO DEVELOP A CONVENIENT ELECTRICALLY CONTROLLED SYSTEM FOR TRANSDERMAL (IONTOPHORETIC) DELIVERY USING CONVENIENT PORTABLE SYSTEMS FOR SELF-ADMINISTRATION OFDRUGS.