New hydrogel makes drug release 20 times slower, keeps treatments effective for weeks

For many patients, taking medicine on time is harder than it sounds. Missed doses cause 10 percent of hospitalizations and billions in avoidable health costs in the U.S. each year.

A new drug delivery system from Rice University scientists could change that by making treatments last longer and work better.

The research introduces a peptide hydrogel platform that slows down drug release. The system, called self-assembling boronate ester release or SABER, acts like a three-dimensional net.

I had this idea a while ago. They should’ve asked me.