Polymericcarriers for regional drug therapy

The limitations of currently available drug therapies, particularly for the treatment of diseases localized in a specific organ or tissue, have encouraged scientists to consider alternative method of drug administration to increase their specificity. This is particularly relevant in the treatment of solid tumors and localized infections, where a high rate of recurrence remains a major clinical problem, associated with inadequate drug supply to the diseased site. An alternative treatment in the local administration of the agent from a degradable polymeric delivery system implanted at the site of the disease. In this fusion, the drug depot can maintain a high local concentration at the site for extended time periods with minimal systemic distribution of the drug. The polymer carrier is degraded and animated from the body shortly after the drug has been released.