Application of PEGs In The Field Of Medical Devices

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is the most biocompatible synthetic polymer material. In addition to being widely used for long-term and synergistic effects of drugs, the application of PEG in medical devices is also being continuously developed. In view of its advantages of solubility, good biocompatibility, non-toxicity, and low immunogenicity, PEG materials can be widely used in the adhesion, hemostasis, anti-leakage, and anti-adhesion of wounds in various surgical operations on the human body. At the same time, PEG materials can also be used as a raw material for medical devices implanted in the human body, replacing the widely used plant source, animal source and human source materials, so it has a very wide range of medical uses.

Generally, multi-arm PEG derivatives are mainly used in these medical device products. Multi-arm PEG derivatives can form hydrogels due to their relatively large molecular weights and have good water-resisting properties and high tissue activity. With the help of this characteristic of PEG material, it can be made into a hydrogel medical device for hemostasis and tissue isolation, which can be gradually degraded in the human body and completely discharged to the body. The above-mentioned tissue sealant or tissue-isolated medical device can be widely used in surgical operations or tumor radiotherapy and has a broad prospect.

At present, there are many PEG-modified medical device products on the market, such as: DuraSeal product lines of Integra Life Sciences (used owned by Covidien, a unit of Medtronic), Mynx product lines of Cardinal Health, SpaceOAR product lines and Baxter CoSeal product lines of Augmenix ( a unit of Boston Scientific), etc. The main PEG hydrogel medical device products in the European and American markets are as follows.

Product Name	Company	Type of PEG	Molecular Weight	Application
DuraSeal Dural	Covidien/Medtronic	4-Arm PEG	20K	Dural Sealant System
DuraSeal Xact	Covidien/Medtronic	4-Arm PEG	20K	Spinal Sealant System
DuraSeal Exact	Covidien/Medtronic	Multi-Arm PEG	15K	Spinal Sealant System
SpaceOar	Augmenix/Boston Scientific	8-Arm PEG	15K	Minimize Side Effects of Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer
MYNX	Access Closure / Cardinal Health	4-Arm & 8-Arm PEG	10K/20K	extravascular vascular closure device
Adherus	Hyperbranch	4-Arm PEG	20K	Dural Sealant System
CoSeal	Baxter	4-Arm PEG	10K	Skin closure surgery
ReSure	Ocular Therapeutix	Multi-Arm PEG	15K	Ocular sealant, sealing clear corneal incisions following cataract surgery

Note: DuraSeal product lines have been acquired by Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation. Find more applications of PEG linkers.

At present, surgical suturing and hemostasis are the main applications of PEG hydrogel products, including ophthalmology, brain repair, and spine surgery. After spraying the hydrogel with PEG derivatives as the main component to the wound site, the hydrogel quickly solidifies to prevent wound bleeding and infection and degrades itself after the wound heals. At the same time, spraying this hydrogel onto the surface of the organ can effectively prevent the internal organs from adhering during the operation and causing the disease to deteriorate. Because PEG derivatives have good biocompatibility, this process will not cause abnormal reactions in humans. Moreover, PEG derivatives will not be absorbed by the body, and will eventually be excreted by the body through metabolism. Taking CoSeal as an example, CoSeal is composed of PEG and polyethylene. When sprayed on the surface of tissue, it can quickly cross-link with the protein on the surface of the tissue and form mechanical adhesion, quickly seal the vascular suture, which can reduce air leakage when used in lung surgery.

Tissue isolation in radiotherapy is a frontier application field of PEG hydrogel products. SpaceOAR produced by Augmenix, Inc. was launched in 2015. It is the first tissue isolation product used in the United States for radiation therapy of prostate cancer. Hydrogels exist in the form of water injections, which can quickly form a soft, gel-like synthetic material between the prostate and rectum after injection. Clinical studies have shown that SpaceOAR can reduce rectal mucosal damage in patients receiving high-dose radiation therapy from 90% to 13.6%.

At present, PEG has been widely used in hydrogel medical devices, and it is expected that future application prospects will also be quite broad. Biochempeg provides multi-arm PEG derivatives, including 4-arm and 8-arm PEG products, as well as some other PEG products with special structures, which can be used to crosslink into degradable PEG hydrogels.

4arm PEG Succinimidyl Carboxymethyl Ester	Hydrogel
4arm PEG Amine	Hydrogel
4arm PEG Thiol	Hydrogel
8arm PEG Amine (tripentaerythritol), HCl Salt	Hydrogel
8arm PEG Amine, HCl Salt	Hydrogel
8arm PEG Thiol (hexaglycerol)	Hydrogel
Acrylate PEG NHS Ester	Hydrogel
Methoxy PEG Amine	Hydrogel