New nitric oxide-releasing polymers for implantable devices

Abstract

The application claims for a new polymer formulation derived from modified polyimines that can be used either to entirely fabricate or to simply coat medical devices. Interestingly, these new biocompatible polymers can include nitric oxide-releasing molecules, essentially diazeniumdiolates, and other different bioactive agents (immunosuppressants, antiproliferatives, anti-inflammatory, epidermal growth factor inhibitors and so on). Although this polymer could be adopted for different medical devices (urethral and biliary stents, sutures, ocular devices and so on), vascular stents should be the main application. In this indication, the invention could represent an evolution of the so-called drug eluting stents, that at their presentation were considered by the FDA as a breakthrough technology while, at present, are under critical careful review because of a debated increased risk of stent thrombosis.

Keywords::

• coronary artery disease
• immunosuppressants
• nitric oxide
• PTCA
• restenosis
• thrombosis
• tissue remodelling