Colon prodrug targeted delivery

F Harboe, C Larsen, MJ Johansen, HP Olesen. Macromolecular prodrugs. XV. Colon-targeted delivery—Bioavailability of naproxen from orally administered dextran-naproxen ester prodrugs varying in molecular size in the pig. Pharm Res 6(11) 919—923, 1989. 

Prodrugs can be used to exploit natural transport mechanisms (see below, Section 6.7.3) and to achieve targeted drag delivery to the colon (see below, Section 6.7.6). 

An attempt is made to synthesise a polymer that will act as a controlled delivery device in targeting specific areas, such as the colon, over an extended period of time. The polymers being synthesised, polyanhydride esters, are composed of alkyl chains linked by ester bonds to aromatic moieties, specifically salicylic acid - the active component of aspirin. With the medicinal properties attributed to salicyclic acid and the ease of metabolism, the incorporation of this compound into a polymer backbone yields a polymeric prodrug that may have potential in a variety of applications, in particular, inflammatory bowel disease. For these reasons, a synthetic scheme that yields the desired polyanhydride esters is designed. Characterisation of the polymers is performed and presented along with preliminary in vitro and possible... 

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