Electroactive nanoporous valve for controlled drug delivery

Abstract

Drug delivery is still a big challenge in the effective pharmaceutical treatment of diseases. The ultimate aim is the delivery of any active pharmaceutical ingrediant (API) in an appropriate therapeutic concentration at the right location without systemic adverse effects in a safe and reproducible manner. A promising technology is the use of implantable drug delivery systems. Here we report a new electroactive nanoporous valve for a drug delivery implant based on the electroactive polymer polypyrrole in a nanoporous membrane for a controlled continuous release of an API. The release is controlled by the opening of the nanopores of carrier substrate comprising the conducting polymer polypyrrole / sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (PPy/DBS) that is located in the nanopores on a gold layer, as conductor. The composition of a conducting redox-polymer (PPy) with the charged counterion DBS allows an overall volume change of this polymer depending on the redox-state of the PPy and therefore the opening or closing of the nanopores for the controlled release of an API. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.