Biodegradable injectable implants for long-term delivery of contraceptives and other therapeutics

Long-term contraceptive delivery devices have been shown to be beneficial to delay or stop childbearing. This work presents a novel biodegradable polymeric implant to deliver a contraceptive agent up to one year. The implant is an injectable device, designed and fabricated using biodegradable polymers with varying molecular weights, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity, and degradation rates specifically formulated to ensure proper daily therapeutic dosage. Implantable via intra-muscular injection, the use of a novel polymer composition allows for customization of the drug delivery system and provides a flexible, yet sturdy implant that degrades as a unit, avoiding troublesome fragmenting and implant retrieval surgery post-treatment. The implant is designed to remain intact throughout the therapeutic release phase, and thereby allow for easier, intact retrieval of the implant should the patient wish to terminate contraception and get pregnant. The hybrid polymer architecture creates an economically-efficient implant system, overcoming the shortcomings of daily use methods and eliminating the need for surgical procedure removal, granting the patient contraceptive effectiveness up to a year.