Local drug delivery by personalized, intraoperative custom-made implant coating

Local administration of drugs can enhance regeneration, prevent infection, or treat postsurgical pain. If used in conjunction with implants, coating strategies should allow the choice of a drug or combination of drugs, their doses, localization, and release due to intraoperative considerations. Current coating technologies lack the ability for personalized medicine strategies. Here, we describe a new intraoperative strategy for drug delivery that allows a personalized approach as local drug delivery by implant coating. A polyvinylalcohol (PVA) patch provides rapid attachment to implant surfaces by cyanoacrylate (CA) adhesives. The CA polymerization was initiated by water uptake of the patch due to exposure to a humid environment. The coating strength depended on the type of the CA, the time of external pressing load and humidification, the properties of the patch and the implant surface. The CA adhesive penetrated and polymerized within the patch without impeding the bioactivity of the embedded molecules or strongly altering the protein release pattern after attachment to the implant surface. The use of CA in combination with the PVA patch proved to be noncytotoxic in vitro. This technology platform opens the possibility for personalized medicine to locally administer drugs due to intraoperative requirements.