Lehner, E. et. al, Eur. J. Pharm. Sci., 2025, 107067, ttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejps.2025.107067
Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is a prominent biodegradable polymer used in biomedical applications. PLGA’s ability to control drug release is often hindered by nonlinear release profiles and slow initial drug release for hydrophobic drugs. This study investigates the incorporation of dexamethasone phosphate (DEXP) into polyethylene glycol–poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PEG-PLGA) implants to enhance the initial release rate of dexamethasone (DEX).Dexamethason phosphate, DEXP improves initial drug release from PEG-PLGA implants via hot-melt extrusion. DEXP further increases implant swelling, water uptake, and mass loss during degradation, so reaching a faster DEX release but a shortening of the overall release duration. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. Open access.