Patent ID: 8877223

Claim:
A biodegradable, porous material comprising a polymer of the general formula A-O—(CHR 1 CHR 2 O) n —B, wherein A is a poly(lactide-co-glycolide) residue having a molecular weight of at least 4000 g/mol, wherein the molar ratio of (i) lactide units [—CH(CH 3 )—COO—] to (ii) glycolide units [—CH 2 —COO—] in the poly(lactide-co-glycolide) residue is 70:30 to 10:90 and wherein the molar ratio of (iii) polyalkylene glycol units [—(CHR 1 CHR 2 O)—] to the combined amount of (i) lactide units [—CH(CH 3 )—COO—] and (ii) glycolide units [—CH 2 —COO—] in the poly(lactide-co-glycolide) residue(s) is at the most 1:9 and, wherein B is either a poly(lactide-co-glycolide) residue as defined for A or is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, C 1-6 -alkyl and hydroxy protecting groups, one of R 1 and R 2 within each —(CHR 1 CHR 2 O)— unit is selected from hydrogen and methyl, and the other of R 1 and R 2 within the same —(CHR 1 CHR 2 O)— unit is hydrogen, n represents the average number of —(CHR 1 CHR 2 O)— units within a polymer chain and is an integer in the range of 10-1000, the number average molecular weight of the polymer is at least 10,000 g/mol, and wherein the porosity of the material is at least 50%.