Improved systems for drug delivery

The control of disease is an issue, which is increasing in importance, as bacteria grow more resistant to existing drugs. The synthesis of new polymers, which will provide support for novel drug interactions is developing to meet the growing demands of therapy.

Health

Focus is on the development of polymers with improved properties with respect to polymer-supported synthesis and release of compounds in aqueous or organic media. Polymers are long chain compounds built up from repeating units, or monomers. The properties of the polymers are directly related to the properties of the monomer that comprise it. The new polymers are based on styrene monomer units, which have been modified to include vinyl or phenolic functional groups on their surface. These are then co-polymerised to produce a polymer with a tentacle structure. The tentacle structure of these polymers provides a support for further synthesis. They can couple to a variety of linkers, which will result in a range of properties. Such polymers, for example the PEGA-Resin are already available commercially. This is a polymer consisting of polyamide and polyethylene glycol units and as such can be used with a range of solvents. Variations on this resin are being produced and tested which will be able to react with a wider variety of linkers. These are not yet available commercially and collaboration is sought for the testing and first evaluation of these products. This polymer-supported synthesis can provide a new generation of anti-infective and anti-cancer compounds with combined functionalities, which are difficult to obtain by traditional chemical methods.