PLGA, a smart polymer for Drug Delivery System

The technology to deliver the necessary ingredients to the target area and sustain the efficacy there for a long time is the medical technology called DDS(Drug Delivery System). Polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) or PLG is a copolymer of polylactic acid (PLA) and polyglycolic acid (PGA) approved by FDA. PLGA is a linear copolymer that has immense potential as a carrier for drug, protein, nucleic acid, and peptide delivery and provides a framework for tissue engineering. Biocompatibility, favorable degradation, and sustained release property render it a popular polymer for drug delivery. The release of embedded drugs from PLGA through stimulation makes it a smart polymer for drug delivery. In recent years it has shown its potential as a monolithic injectable Implant for sustained delivery of drugs at desirable doses without surgery. The advantages of PLGA are its tuneable physical properties i.e., molecular weight, and the ratio of lactide to glycolide. The Hydrolytic biodegradation of PLGA also affects the drug release mechanism based on drug delivery systems either by diffusion or erosion.