Recent advances in star polymer design: Degradability and the potential for drug delivery

The use of polymers as drug delivery devices represents an exciting area of development in the biomedical industry. This paper briefly highlights some of the different types of macromolecules that have attracted attention as potential drug delivery devices, with a particular focus on the class of star polymers known as core cross-linked star (CCS) polymers. The ability to control the rate at which encapsulated molecules can be released is an important factor in the design of efficient drug delivery devices. In this regard, several different techniques to incorporate degradable functionality into CCS polymers are examined as a potential means of controlling release kinetics.