Modeling and simulation of drug delivery from a new type of biodegradable polymer micro-device

In this paper, modeling and simulation of a new type of controlled drug delivery micro-device based on biodegradable polymers is reported. The micro-device consists of micro-chambers arrays for drug storage to achieve linear release. The micro-chambers are fabricated with polyanhydrides (CPP-SA) using the UV-LIGA technology and the controlled release process are the combined results of the design of the micro-chambers and the biodegradable characteristics of the polymer. This type of drug delivery system has some unique advantages in controlled long-term drug delivery, such as larger loading volume than the matrices release systems, easier control for the release rate, etc. It is necessary to optimize the structure for the long-term and zero-order drug release. Based on the Monte Carlo erosion model, the drug release model is founded for the drug delivery system and using the new model, the drug release profiles from the delivery systems with different structures are simulated. The simulated results indicate that the effect of the drug delivery is dependent on the micro-structure of the delivery system and the simulated drug profiles of coaxial rings micro-cavity shape equal to zero-order released model approximatively. The simulated results are very important to the application research of the new biodegradable polymer micro-device. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.