A newly developed family of biodegradable polymers has shown potential for use in intracellular delivery and sustained release of therapeutic drugs to the acidic environments of tumors, inflammatory tissues and intracellular vesicles that hold foreign matter.

These polymers have several advantages over existing biodegradable polymers, researchers say. Among them, the polymers—called polyketals—are biodegradable into Food and Drug Administration-approved compounds. Synthesis is a simple and easily customized process. Degradation of the polymer doesn’t produce inflammation-causing acid, but instead generates membrane-permeable products that allow all of the polymer’s byproducts to diffuse outside the cell. That means byproducts shouldn’t accumulate in a patient’s tissue and cause inflammation.

 …