Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Applications of Interpenetrating Polymer Network

Interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) based drug delivery system is basically designed to deliver drugs at a predetermined rate for a desired period of time with minimum fluctuation. Due to its physical and biological characteristics such as enhanced solubility of hydrophobic drugs, excellent swelling capacity, imparting drug stability in the formulations, biodegradability, biocompatibility, weak antigenecity and targeting of drug in a specific tissue make it suitable for drug delivery as well as biomedical applications. IPN based drug delivery is primarily used for controlled release of drugs. These systems are also used for tissue engineering such as cartilage scaffolds, bone substitutes etc. The purpose of this review article is to cover recent advances on IPN based on its utilization as drug delivery matrix system for pharmaceutical applications as well as in tissue engineering for biomedical applications. Consequently, IPN is regarded as one of the most valuable novel biomaterials.