Hydrogels containing absorbable polyoxaamides

A drug delivery matrix comprising a drug and a crosslinked aliphatic polyoxaamide wherein the crosslinked aliphatic polyoxaamide is formed from an aliphatic polyoxaamide having a first divalent repeating unit of formula I:

• ›X--C(O)--C(R.sub.1) (R.sub.2)--O--(R.sub.3)--O--C(R.sub.1) (R.sub.2)--C(O)--! I
• and a second repeating unit selected from the group of formulas consisting of:
• ›--Y--R.sub.17 --!.sub.T, II
• ›--O--R.sub.5 --C(O)--!.sub.B, III
• (›--O--R.sub.9 --C(O)!.sub.P --O--).sub.L G XI
• and combinations thereof, wherein X and Y are selected from the group consisting of --O-- and --N(R)--, provided that X and Y cannot both be --O--;
• R, R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and an alkyl group containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms;
• R.sub.3 is selected from the group consisting of an alkylene unit and an oxyalkylene group of the following formula:
• --›(CH.sub.2).sub.C --O--!.sub.D --(CH.sub.2).sub.E -- IV
• wherein C is an integer in the range of from 2 to about 5, D is an integer in the range of from 0 to about 2,000, and E is an integer in the range of from about 2 to about 5, except when D is zero, in which case E will be an integer in the range of from 2 to 12;
• R.sub.17 is an alkylene unit containing from 2 to 8 carbon atoms which may have substituted therein an internal ether oxygen, an internal --N(R.sub.18)-- or an internal --C(O)--N(R.sub.21)--;
• T is an integer in the range of from 1 to 2,000;
• R.sub.18 and R.sub.21 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and an alkyl group containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms;
• R.sub.5 and R.sub.9 are selected from the group consisting of --C(R.sub.6)(R.sub.7)--, --(CH.sub.2).sub.3 --O--, --CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 --O--CH.sub.2 --, --CR.sub.8 H--CH.sub.2 --, --(CH.sub.2).sub.5 --, --(CH.sub.2).sub.F --O--C(O)-- and --(CH.sub.2).sub.K --C(O)--CH.sub.2 --;
• R.sub.6 and R.sub.7 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and an alkyl containing from 1 to 8 carbon atoms;
• R.sub.8 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and methyl;
• F and K are independently selected integer in the range of from 2 to 6;
• B is an integer in the range of from 1 to n such that the number average number average molecular weight of formula III is less than about 200,000;
• P is an integer in the range of from 1 to m such that the number average molecular weight of formula XI is less than about 1,000,000;
• G represents the residue minus from 1 to L hydrogen atoms from the hydroxyl groups of an alcohol previously containing from 1 to about 200 hydroxyl groups;
• and L is an integer from about 1 to about 200;
• wherein the aliphatic polyoxaamide is crosslinked.