The 40th microsymposium
in the series of the Prague Meetings on Macromolecules, organized
by the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in Prague since 1967,
was devoted to polymers in medicine. In addition, the meeting took
place to celebrate the occasion of the 60th birthday of Professor
Jindrich Kopecek, one of the leading scientists in drug delivery,
former member of the research staff of the Institute of Macromolecular
Chemistry in Prague and the present Professor of Pharmaceutics at
the University of Utah.
The goal of the
meeting was to provide a forum for experts from academia and industry
specializing in various aspects of biomedical application of polymer
materials with special focus on tailor-made biorecognizable polymers,
soluble and vesicular drug delivery systems, polymer systems for controlled
drug release, smart hydrogels for medicinal application and genetically
engineered biomedical polymers and biomaterials. The scientific program
was opened by an inspirational lecture presented by Professor Helmut
Ringsdorf. The program of the meeting consisted of eight general and
twenty-one specialized lectures supplemented by nearly sixty poster
presentations. A very stimulating concluding panel discussion, sensitively
moderated by Professor Andrade, was directed for future advances in
science with specific focus on polymers in medicine and drug delivery
systems.
Balancing the
busy four-day meeting with many presentations and lively discussions,
it could be safely stated that polymer materials, polymer devices
and constructs, and polymer conjugates are gaining ever-growing importance
in all fields of medical and pharmaceutical research and development.
After a period of the research dealing with the development of new
materials, new polymer systems and the search for new applications
of polymer materials, the attention of researchers switches now to
the mechanisms of interaction of polymers with living cells and tissues
and the mechanisms of action of polymer-based biologically active
systems. This knowledge, together with achievements in genetics, results
in the tailor-made design of highly sophisticated and complex polymer
systems meeting even most exacting demands of the current medicine
and pharmacology.
We did not manage
to gather all the lectures presented at the Prague 40th microsymposium
on polymers in medicine in this special volume. Nevertheless, the
special volume contains most of the interesting and important papers
based on the lectures presented, thus giving the picture of the topics
and problems discussed. Various aspects of development, structure
and properties of diverse polymeric drug delivery systems are discussed
in papers of Bae, Einmahl, Heller, Kataoka, Kennedy and Lloyd. Specific
aspects of polymer systems designed for cancer therapy are presented,
e.g., in the papers of Neuse, Minko or Kabanov, immunological aspects
of the use of water-soluble polymer-drug conjugates in cancer therapy
are discussed by Ríhiová. The reader will also find
papers dealing with other topics of application of polymers, such
as cell encapsulation (Lukás), polymer vaccines (Kissel), gene
therapy (Hoffman) and collagen-based fibres for blood vessel replacements
(Feijen).
The organizers
of the microsymposium wish to express their gratitude to the sponsoring
companies and institutions: Sigma-Aldrich Ltd, Czech Republic, Schering,
Czech Republic, MacroMed, Inc. USA, ENZON, Inc. USA, Ashni Naturaceuticals,
Japan, and the German Academy of Sciences, Mainz, Germany.
Karel
Ulbrich
Jaroslav Kahovec
> Contents