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Nature Materials 7, 836–837 (1 November 2008) | doi:10.1038/nmat2309

Drug delivery: The heart of the matter

David Putnam

Controlled drug delivery is a field dedicated to the spatial and temporal release of therapeutically active agents into the body. One approach for managing drug release rates is to embed the drug within a hydrolytically degradable material of micrometre dimensions, generally polymers that erode on injection, much like a bar of soap in water (Fig.