US Patent 8697117 Drug-eluting films

Polymeric porous films, capable of eluding a bioactive agent when coming in contact with a physiological medium according to a pre-determined and controlled release profile suitable for particular type of drug and indication, and medical devices including the same are disclosed. Also disclosed are processes for producing the polymeric porous films by freeze-drying an inverted emulsion formulation in which the polymer's composition, the polymer's concentration, the polymer's initial molecular weight, the concentration and/or the type of a surfactant, the homogenization rate and/or the oil phase to aqueous phase ratio (O:A) are selected so as to impart a desired release profile of the bioactive agent from the polymeric film.