A novel skeletal drug delivery system for anti-bacterial drugs using self-setting hydroxyapatite cement

To solve the problem of delivering drugs to skeletal tissue at high enough local concentrations for desirable therapeutic effects, we report a novel approach using a self-setting hydroxyapatite cement, with cephalexin and norfloxacin as model drugs. After setting, the cement was transformed into hydroxyapatite with affinity for hard bone tissue. Continuous in-vitro drug release profiles from loaded cement pellets (0.9-4.8% by weight) in phosphate buffer at pH 7.4 and 37 degrees C followed the Higuchi equation.