Polyanhydrides: An overview

Neeraj Kumar, Robert S. Langer, Abraham J. Domb

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

367 Scopus citations

Abstract

Polyanhydrides have been considered to be useful biomaterials as carriers of drugs to various organs of the human body such as brain, bone, blood vessels, and eyes. They can be prepared easily from available, low cost resources and can be manipulated to meet desirable characteristics. Polyanhydrides are biocompatible and degrade in vivo into non-toxic diacid counterparts that are eliminated from the body as metabolites. Owing to their usefulness, this review focuses on the development, synthesis methods, structures and characterization of polyanhydrides, which will provide an overview for the researchers in the field. Their in vitro and in vivo degradability, toxicity, biocompatibility and applications are discussed in the subsequent chapters of this special issue on polyanhydrides and poly(ortho esters).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)889-910
Number of pages22
JournalAdvanced Drug Delivery Reviews
Volume54
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 16 Oct 2002
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Biodegradable polymers
  • Drug delivery
  • Fatty-acid based polyanhydrides
  • Polyanhydride-blends
  • Polyanhydrides
  • Terminated polyanhydrides

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