Modeling of drug release from biodegradable polymer blends

Numerous mathematical models that predict drug release from degradable systems have been reported. Most of these models cater only to single step, diffusion-controlled release while a few attempt to describe bi-phasic release. All these models, however, are only applicable to drug release from single (unblended) degradable polymer systems. In this paper, we propose and test novel models for drug (notably paclitaxel) release from films made of neat poly (epsilon-caprolactone) PCL, neat Poly (DL-lactide-co-glycolide) PLGA and their blends. The model developed for neat PCL consists of two terms: initial burst and diffusional release. On the other hand, a more complex model proposed for tri-phasic release from neat PLGA consists of burst release. degradative (relaxation-induced) drug dissolution release and diffusional release. Finally, this very first model to predict release from blend of PLGA and PCL was developed based on a heuristic approach. Drug distribution between PCL-rich and PLGA-rich phases is dictated by partition coefficient, and the overall fraction of drug release is a summation of drug released from the two phases. The proposed models exhibited good prediction of the experimental data. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.