Pharmacologically active polymer

Ringsdorf, H. Structures and properties of pharmacologically active polymers. J. Polymer Sci. 51 135-153, 1975. 

Ringsdorf, H. 1975. Structure and Properties of Pharmacologically Active Polymers J. Polym. Sci. Symp. 51,135... 

In any pharmacologically active polymer, it is an advantage if the polymer itself can be designed to biodegrade eventually to harmless small molecules. Very few synthetic organic macromolecules possess this attribute. Hydrolytic biodegradability can be... 

Przybylski, E., Fell, E., Ringsdorf, H. and Zaharko, D.Z. (1978) Pharmacologically active polymers. 17. Synthesis and characterization of polymeric derivatives of the antitumour agent methotrexate. Makromol. Chem. 179 1719-1733. 

A model of pharmacologically active polymers (2) was based on the idea that a combination of desired properties could be achieved by linking the appropriate structural units along a polymer chain (Fig. 1). 

Taken into account some possible polymer specific effects of pharmacologically active polymers (4), one can conclude that such drugs may be expected to lead beyond the horizon of mere "me-too-drugs", i.e. that they offer other or more possibilities than do low molecular weight drugs. Since a review of the whole field is far beyond the scope of this article, three examples will illustrate this. 

Polymeric Drugs and Drug Carriers.—The literature in this field, which includes pharmacologically active polymers, drugs covalently bound to a polymeric carrier, and drugs and enzymes absorbed onto, or encapsulated in, a polymer, has been... 

H. Ringsdorf, Structure and properties of pharmacologically active polymers,/. Polym. Sci. Polym. Simp., 51 (1), 135-153,1975. 

Abel, G., Connors, T. A., Hofman, V, and Ringsdorf, H., Pharmacologically active polymers, 13. Elucidation of the tumor affinity of polyCsulfadiamine acrylamide), Makromol. Chem., 177, 2669, 1976. 

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