Medical implant

Abstract

An improved medical implant device directed to, inter alia, (i) avoiding unwanted initial drug “burst” problems, (ii) providing a more level amount of drug delivery, (iii) reducing blood clotting, (iv) reducing the amount of drug material that remains in the implant device, and/or (v) novel materials for an implant device.

I claim: 
     
         1 . An implantable subcutaneous medical drug delivery device containing (i) at least one matrix, (ii) at least one drug material, (iii) at least one outer coating that at least partially surrounds at least one said matrix and (iv) at least one hole, wherein:
 at least one hole is used to deliver one or more drug materials from said matrix,   at least one matrix contains at least one biodegradable material;   at least one matrix contains at least one drug material, and   the amount of one drug material in a biodegradable material of a matrix is intentionally varied in concentration within that matrix in order to regulate or improve the flow of the drug material over a desired drug delivery time period of at least 3 days.   
     
     
         2 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein the variation in concentration of said drug material is achieved at least in part by the creation of non-random biodegradable barriers located within a matrix. 
     
     
         3 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein the variation in concentration of said drug material is achieved at least in part by the creation of two or more non-random biodegradable sections having different drug material concentrations located within a matrix. 
     
     
         4 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein the variation in concentration is achieved at least in part by varying the % composition of at least one drug material within a matrix. 
     
     
         5 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein an anticoagulation drug material is added to at least one first drug material in a matrix in order to at least partially improve the delivery of the first drug material. 
     
     
         6 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 5  wherein the anticoagulation drug material is used at least in part to lessen the formation of blood clotting. 
     
     
         7 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 6  wherein the % composition of the anticoagulant drug material is varied in at least one portion of a matrix. 
     
     
         8 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein at least a portion of the outer coating contains biodegradable material. 
     
     
         9 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 8  wherein said biodegradable materials contains at least one drug material. 
     
     
         10 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 9  wherein the at least one drug material is an anticoagulant drug material. 
     
     
         11 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein at least a portion of the outer coating contains non-biodegradable material made at least in part from at least one of (i) carbon fiber material or carbon fiber composite material; (ii) graphene; (iii) a mixture of metal and (i); (iv) a mixture of metal and (ii); or (v) a mixture of metal and (i) and (ii). 
     
     
         12 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 11 , wherein the at least one portion of the outer coating is the outer-most coating of the medical device. 
     
     
         13 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein the regulation of the flow of drug material involves the lessening of an undesired initial drug burst. 
     
     
         14 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 5  wherein the anticoagulant material is intended to lessen clotting in or near (i) at least a portion of said matrix, (ii) at least a portion of at least one hole or (ii) at least a portion of at least one outer coating. 
     
     
         15 . An implantable medical device according to  claims 1  wherein a delivery of at least one drug is controlled by the intentional flattening the level of a drug release or by lengthening the time period of drug release due to the variation in concentration. 
     
     
         16 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 6  wherein the use of an anticoagulant material (i) improves the delivery of a drug material during the desired drug delivery period or (ii) lessens the amount of a drug material remaining in the device when that device is removed. 
     
     
         17 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein at least one drug-containing biodegradable material does not have a single homogenous concentration within a matrix. 
     
     
         18 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 2  wherein at least one barrier in a matrix has a zero or a low first drug concentration when compared with at least one other area in that matrix that containing said drug material. 
     
     
         19 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 8  wherein the biodegradable coating degrades at a slower rate than one or more biodegradable materials in a matrix. 
     
     
         20 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein there are at least two different non-drug biodegradable materials in at least one matrix that degrade at different rates. 
     
     
         21 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein the % concentration delivery of two or more drug materials vary during the period of drug delivery. 
     
     
         22 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein two or more drug materials are delivered either serially, partially simultaneously or simultaneously. 
     
     
         23 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein at least two of the drug materials are delivered at either partially separate times or are delivered in a manner wherein the % concentration of both drug materials varies during delivery. 
     
     
         24 . An implantable medical device according to  claim 1  wherein a matrix is made at least in part by nanotubes or nanotube structures for the delivery of one or more drug materials. 
     
     
         25 . An improved medical device according to  claim 1  wherein a matrix contains one or more channels for drug delivery and wherein at least one of said channels does not have a consistent shape over the length or height of the device. 
     
     
         26 . An improved medical device according to  claim 1  wherein the rate of degradation or delivery of at least one biodegradable material within a matrix is intentionally varied to affect drug delivery. 
     
     
         27 . An improved medical device according to  claim 1  wherein at least one of the biodegradable materials degrades more slowly at or near the hole. 
     
     
         28 . An improved medical device according to  claim 1  wherein the % concentration of at least one drug material in a matrix varies at least sometimes as the distance of said material changes from at least one hole. 
     
     
         29 . An improved medical device according to  claim 1  wherein at least one drug material does not have a single homogenous concentration within a matrix. 
     
     
         30 . An improved medical device according to  claim 1  wherein at least one drug material does not have a single homogenous concentration within at least one channel of a matrix. 
     
     
         31 . An improved medical device according to  claim 2  wherein at least one said barrier in a matrix is adjacent to said hole.