Back to results
US 2016/0355661 A1Published application
Lyophilized Foams of End Block Containing Absorbable Polymers
AssigneeEthicon, Inc.
InventorsJackie Donners, Marc Wisnudel, Mark Timmer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Novel absorbable foams, lyophilizing solutions, and lyophilizing and annealing processes are disclosed. The foams are made from copolymers of glycolide and epsilon-caprolactone. The foams are useful in or as implantable medical devices.
Claims32
An absorbable polymer foam, comprising:
- a semicrystalline absorbable segmented copolymer having a random segment of repeating units of polymerized glycolide and polymerized epsilon-caprolactone and at least one segment that comprises predominantly polymerized glycolide, wherein the mole ratio of polymerized glycolide to polymerized epsilon-caprolactone of the entire segmented copolymer is between about 55:45 to about 65:35, and having a mole ratio of polymerized glycolide to polymerized epsilon-caprolactone in the random segment between about 45:55 to about 60:40.
A method of making an absorbable foam by a lyophilization process, comprising the steps of:
- a) providing an absorbable polymer comprising a semicrystalline, absorbable, segmented copolymer having repeating units of polymerized glycolide and polymerized epsilon-caprolactone, wherein the mole ratio of polymerized glycolide to polymerized epsilon-caprolactone is about 55:45 to about 65:35, and having a mole ratio of polymerized glycolide to polymerized epsilon-caprolactone in the random segment between about 45:55 to about 60:40;
- b) dissolving a sufficient quantity of the copolymer in a suitable solvent to form a lyophilizing solution;
- c) pouring at least a part of the solution at a sufficiently effective temperature to prevent premature gel formation into a suitable mold;
- d) freezing the solution at a fast enough rate to prevent premature gel formation in order to facilitate solvent removal in a subsequent lyophilization process;
- and,
- e) subjecting the frozen solution in the mold to a lyophilizing process, wherein the pressure is lowered and heat is applied to sublimate the solvent and form an absorbable foam.
3 more elements
A lyophilizing solution, comprising:
- a solvent selected from the group consisting of 1,4-dioxane, a mixture of at least 90 weight percent 1,4-dioxane and no more than 10 weight percent water, and a mixture of at least 90 weight percent 1,4-dioxane and no more than 10 weight percent of an organic alcohol having a molecular weight of less than 1,500 Daltons;
- and,
- about 3 wt. % to about 20 wt. % of a semicrystalline, absorbable, segmented copolymer, having repeating units of polymerized glycolide and polymerized epsilon-caprolactone, wherein the mole ratio of polymerized glycolide to polymerized epsilon-caprolactone is between about 55:45 to about 65:35, and having a mole ratio of polymerized glycolide to polymerized epsilon-caprolactone in the random segment between about 45:55 to about 60:40.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.