| abstract |
Methods of making room temperature-curable polymers. Reactants include siloxane-terminated polymers and silanols. The reactants are mixed, and the polymerization allowed to proceed in air at room temperature. The polymers are exceptionally useful because they allow for the incorporation into the polymers themselves of one or more therapeutic compounds. Thus, medical devices from which controlled drug release is desirable (for either local or systemic delivery) can be coated with therapeutic compound-containing polymers of the invention. In a preferred embodiment, a polymer of poly(MPC w :LAM x :HPMA y :TSMA z ) where w, x, y, and z represent the molar ratios of monomers used in the feed for preparing the polymer; MPC represents the unit 2-methacryoyloxyethylphosphorylcholine, LMA represents the unit lauryl methacrylate, HPMA represents the unit 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate, and TSMA represents the unit 3-trimethoxysilylpropyl methacrylate is reacted with polydimethylsiloxane. In another preferred embodiment, a therapeutic compound is incorporated into the polymer, such as dexamethasone. |