Responsive polymers for drug delivery

Advances in medicine have allowed the development of pharmaceuticals to treat a plethora of diseases. Despite these improvements, it is becoming clear that the methods used to deliver these drugs needs to improve in order to target these diseases more efficiently. Therefore, new technologies are needed to deliver these drugs with greater specificity and in response to changes in the disease. One way to deliver drugs more effectively is to utilize polymeric drug-delivery systems. Owing to the wide variety of pharmaceuticals used to treat diseases, a myriad of polymer systems are now available for use in drug-delivery applications. Depending on the drug being delivered, and the site(s) at which delivery is needed, different polymeric systems can be prepared. Of the polymers available, specific stimuli-sensitive polymeric systems have the potential to be considerably more beneficial, in terms of disease treatment and optimal therapy, allowing for the potential to target the system to the disease state. Therefore, the focus of the current chapter will be the application and adaptation of stimuli-responsive polymers to enable on-demand drug delivery or to overcome the challenges associated with current delivery methods.