ABSTRACT
Th e emergence of biomedical devices in the area of diagnostics and drug delivery in the past decade has increased the need to identify newer adhesive materials with unique electrical and mechanical properties. Research in the area of pharmaceutical materials science has been triggered largely due to the advancement in transdermal, implantables, depots, and transmucosal drug delivery systems. In the transdermal realm, the use of medicated patches became a standard of care aft er the approval of the fi rst patch in 1979 that delivered the potent antiemetic drug scopolamine for motion sickness. Other approaches to deliver therapeutic molecules across the transdermal barrier followed suit in the areas of “enhanced” transdermal, such as iontophoresis, sonophoresis, electromagnetic, and thermally activated systems. Th e development of various novel drug delivery systems necessitated the need for newer materials that form key components in
2.1 Introduction: Drug Delivery and Transdermal Patches ...................................... 2-2
2.2 Electrical Conductivity in Polymers ................... 2-4 2.3 Key Requirements of Pressure-Sensitive
Adhesives in Biomedical Applications ................ 2-6 2.4 Electroconductive Adhesives in Drug
Delivery .................................................................... 2-8 2.5 Biomedical Electrodes-Addressing
the Interface ............................................................. 2-9 2.6 Conclusions and Future Directions ....................2-11 Acknowledgments ..........................................................2-11 References ....................................................................... 2-12
such devices. Pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) products used in medical applications are described in Application of Pressure-Sensitive Products, Chapter 4. Th is chapter will focus on the use of PSAs in transdermal drug delivery systems and particularly on the subset of electroconductive adhesives, a specialty material, used in biomedical applications.
