Patent ID: 8562669

Claim:
A method for modulation of hydrophobic drug release from a coating, the method comprising: providing an amorphous or semi-crystalline hydrophobic polymer that has a glass transition temperature greater than 37° C.; providing a hydrophobic drug; providing a coating solvent comprising 10% to 90% acetone and 90% to 10% of a second solvent selected from the group consisting of methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone and dimethylacetamide wherein % refers to weight %; dissolving the drug and the polymer in the coating solvent at a drug:polymer mass ratio of 1:1 to 1:3 to form a coating solution; spraying the coating solution onto a substrate; removing the solvent; and modulating the release rate of the drug from the coating formed after the solvent is removed by repeating the above operations of providing an amorphous or semi-crystalline hydrophobic polymer, providing a hydrophobic drug, providing a coating solvent, dissolving the drug and the polymer in the coating solvent, spraying the coating solution onto a substrate and removing the solvent, on at least one more occasion using the same polymer, drug, and drug to polymer mass ratio, using the same type of substrate wherein the substrate used is a substrate to which the coating solution of the polymer and the drug has not been applied, and using a different coating solvent which differs from the coating solvent used in the immediately previous execution of the operations in the choice of the second solvent, the ratio of acetone to the second solvent, or both the choice of the second solvent and the ratio of acetone to the second solvent.