Applications of Polymers in Parenteral Drug Delivery

Parenteral drug delivery plays a very vital role in pharmacotherapy of various acute and critical illnesses. Injectables have been preferred formulations over oral and topicals especially in case where rapid effects of drugs are required or prolongation of drug release is desired.

This would not have been the case, if it were not for the development of variety of polymers of different functionalities. Polymers’ role in parenteral drug delivery is threefold. They find utility as formulation components to act as lyophilization or viscosity aid for shelf-stability of formulations. They are also used as therapeutic component in formulations where they provide therapeutic benefits such as arthritic pain management, plasma-volume expanders, or blood thinner. And third and most important function as a carrier for drug to modify its pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic behavior in vivo, whether it be prolongation of activity of drug, reduction of toxicity issue, targeting at organ or cell level, or improve the therapeutic activity of drug.

Current chapter will focus on different roles of polymers in parenteral delivery, factors influencing their different uses, types of different polymers, and different polymeric formulation strategies for parenteral application.

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Article Information: Author links open overlay panelImran Vhora, Nirav Khatri, Ambikanandan Misra. Applications of Polymers in Drug Delivery (Second Edition), 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-819659-5.00008-2