1. Polymer Drugs: Novel Biodegradable Drug Delivery Systems
Speaker: Ms. Roselin Rosario
Rutgers University
April 12, 2012
The speaker, Roselin Rosario, started talking about her background
information. She graduated from Chemistryin the UPR at Cayey. A polymer is a long
chain of molecules joined together in a repeating fashion to form a single layer
molecule. Examples of polymer uses are: paints, plastics, drug delivery, etc. They are
also used in dental health. Arestin is used to kill the bacteria that underline
periodontal disease. Ms. Rosario’s experiment uses Polyaspirin because it releases
salicylic acid in a controlled manner and it serves for many functions so they decided
to create a polymer with it. They are developing biodegradable polymers in discs,
microspheres, hydrogels, etc. Morphine is an alkaloid is found in opium. There are
current investigations with morphine polymers (polymorphine) to see how it can act
as a pain reducing treatment.