Anyone taking a medication only once a day should thank Alejandro Zaffaroni (b. 1923). It was his pioneering attitude that brought about slow-release medications, including drugs that are absorbed through the skin and five-year reversible birth control.
In 1949 Zaffaroni received a PhD from the University of Rochester in New York after his thesis on quantitative analysis of natural steroids. His work had taught him that organisms generally released steroids in small amounts over relatively long periods of time. This was in stark contrast to most medications of the 1940s, which involved relatively large doses in pill-like forms.
In 1968 he founded Alza (an acronym of his own name) to pursue his concept of improving medical treatment through controlled drug delivery. He had seen the side effects that many medicines produced when they were sent to the bloodstream all in one massive dose, and knew there had to be a better way» By studying endocrinology, where glands deliver very small amounts of hormones that have a powerful effect, he was convinced that delivering drugs in small, steady doses would be more appropriate.
Today's controlled drug-release mechanisms include implanted pumps for the delivery of insulin or pain medications, and transdermal patches, which release medicine slowly into the skin. The latter are used for certain pain medications, motion sickness medicine, and birth control, as well as nicotine withdrawal where success depends on a gradual reduction of the dose. Controlled drug delivery not, only allows steady, predictable drug levels but also enhances the duration of effect of short-acting medications and decreases their side effects.
