Evaluation of Degradation Properties of Polyglycolide and Its Potential as Delivery Vehicle for Anticancer Agents

Biodegradable polymers offer a unique combination of properties that can be tailored to suit nearly any controlled drug delivery application. The most common biodegradable polymers used for biomedical applications are semicrystalline polyesters and polyethers which possess good mechanical properties and have been used in many controlled release applications. Drug release from these polymers may be controlled by several mechanisms and these include diffusion of drug through a matrix, dissolution of polymer matrix and degradation of the polymer. This study aims to investigate the degradation and drug release properties of polyglycolide (1.03 dL/g), in which, cis platin, an anticancer agent was used as the model drug. The degradation behaviour of the chosen polymer is thought to largely govern the release of the anticancer agent in vitro.