Silicon based materials for drug delivery devices and implants.

This patent review focuses on silicon based materials for drug delivery systems and implant devices devoted to medical applications. The article describes some representative examples of the most depictive silicon based compounds associated with drug release formulations and tissue engineering biomaterials. Ranging from inorganic to organic and hybrid inorganic-organic silicon compounds, the paper referrers to patents describing inventions which make use of the best properties of silicon dioxide, silica aerogel and xerogel, silicon bioactive materials, silicones and ormosils, pointing out the usefulness of each kind of compound within the invention embodiment.