COLLAGEN-POLYMER CONJUGATES

La collagène, notamment le collagène d'atelopeptide, présente des caractéristiques de manipulation améliorées lorsqu'il est conjugué et/ou réticulé chimiquement avec un polymère hydrophile synthétique. Pharmaceutically acceptable, non-immunogenic compositions are formed by covalently binding atelopeptide collagen to pharmaceutically pure, synthetic, hydrophilic polymers via specific types of chemical bonds to provide collagen/polymer conjugates. The atelopeptide collagen can be type I, type II or type III and may be fibrillar or non-fibrillar. The synthetic hydrophilic polymer may be polyethylene glycol and derivatives thereof having a weight average molecular weight over a range of from about 100 to about 20,000. The compositions may include other components such as liquid, pharmaceutically acceptable, carriers to form injectable formulations, and/or biologically active proteins such as growth factors. The collagen-polymer conjugates of the invention generally contain large amounts of water when formed. The conjugates can be dehydrated to form a relatively solid object. The dehydrated, solid object can be ground into particles which can be suspended in a non-aqueous fluid such as an oil and injected into a living being for the purpose of providing soft tissue augmentation. Once in place, the particles rehydrate and expand in size five fold or more.