Drug Delivery

Biomaterial Solutions

Secant Group has developed Hydralese™, a novel polymer platform for next-generation delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) to global patient populations. Hydralese demonstrates unparalleled benefits over traditional polymers currently used for drug delivery and medical device applications, ushering in a new era of patient-centric solutions.

Hydralese provides an unmet need for long-acting drug delivery systems since it is suitable for a variety of anatomical sites and therapies. All to improve patient convenience and efficacy through the reduced need for dosing.

 

A solutions-focused approach

Hydralese can be formed into a multitude of tunable dosage forms making it an ideal excipient for implantables, injectables, coatings and orals. It is a flexible elastomer comprised of poly(glycerol sebacate) urethane (PGSU) that provides controlled release of APIs for many months to years.

Biocompatible

  • Minimizes chronic inflammation and fibrous encapsulation
  • All tissues return to normal upon degradation
  • Minimizes pH change during degradation

Biodegradable

  • Degrades while retaining its shape via surface erosion
  • Degradation timeframe of 3 to 18 months
  • Degrades back into glycerol and sebacate which can be used as nutrients

Linear Release Kinetics

  • Achieves zero-order release kinetics
  • Allows for the constant release of an API via surface erosion
  • Produces minimal burst release when introduced in the body
  • Allows drug concentrations to stay within the targeted therapeutic window

High Drug Loading

  • Ideal for high drug loading up to 80% w/w
  • Can load both hydrophobic & hydrophilic APIs

Highly Flexible

  • Exhibits stretchable, compressible and bendable mechanical properties
  • Flexible for patient comfort, even at high drug loads

Shelf Stable

  • Room temp/humidity shelf storage
  • Stable at pre- and post-sterilization

Customizable

  • Can be tuned by changing the polymer crosslinking density
  • Can be formulated into many different dosage forms and developed for dual drug delivery

Explore Drug Delivery Solutions

The team at Secant partners with innovators to custom-develop the right Hydralese dosage form based on specific applications and requirements.  

Implants

Hydralese implants can be tailored to mimic the elastic properties of tissue to achieve enhanced safety and comfort for the patient, resulting in improved compliance. These rod-shaped, long-acting implants can be drug loaded up to 80% while remaining flexible. Implant release the API with minimal burst release with reliable daily release. A Hydralese-based implant will gradually get smaller over time while remaining intact, making implant extraction possible, if an adverse reaction occurs.

Microspheres

Microspheres or microparticles are a multi-particulate drug delivery system that can be administered parenterally or orally. Microspheres can range from 1-1000u µm based on the desired route of delivery. 

Secant has developed Hydralese-based microspheres for targeted drug delivery. These microspheres can be developed to deliver two APIs simultaneously based on rate and duration requirements.   

Gastroretentive Devices

Secant has developed Hydralese-based expandable gastroretentive dosage forms. Due to the high elasticity of Hydralese, these constructs can fold up to fit inside oral delivery capsules and spring back to their expanded form upon reaching the stomach. Once expanded, the device is too large to pass through the pyloric sphincter and remains in the stomach for a defined period of time, releasing the API payload until eventual degradation and loss of mechanical integrity, leading to device elimination. These dosage forms can be drug loaded up to 80% w/w and have been shaped into rings and other geometries to create foldable sections. 

Coatings

Hydralese is ideal for coating materials commonly used in medical devices due to its elastomeric and cell-friendly properties. Hydralese can uniformly coat multiple polymeric materials and has shown utility in improving the biological and physical properties of finished devices.

Forming Technologies

• Extrusion
• Molding
• Castings
• Coatings
• 3D printing
• Emulsion

Markets

• Reproductive health (contraception, STI prevention)
• Oncology
• Neurology
• Ophthalmology
• Pain Management
• Animal health

Partnering with Secant

Our team is seeking, establishing, and fostering academic and industry partnerships to bring improved long-acting solutions to life with Hydralese. We create formulations based on your target product profile to develop, test and characterize prototypes in-house.

Our team can manage and support:

  • in-vitro characterization
  • in-vivo evaluation
  • technical transfer
  • scale-up
  • clinical trials
  • commercial launch

Start your Hydralese-based drug delivery project today.

Contact us to learn more or explore resources on drug delivery.