N-(2-Hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide

N-methacrylamide or N-HPMA is the monomer used to make the polymer poly.
The polymer is water-soluble, non-immunogenic and non-toxic, and resides in the blood circulation well. Thus, it is frequently used as macromolecular carrier for low molecular weight drugs to enhance therapeutic efficacy and limit side effects. Poly-drug conjugate preferably accumulates in tumor tissues via the passive-targeting process. Due to its favorable characteristics, HPMA polymers and copolymers are also commonly used to produce synthetic biocompatible medical materials such as hydrogels.
The development of pHPMA as anti-cancer drug delivery vehicles is initiated by Dr. Jindřich Kopeček and colleagues at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague in the mid-1970s. Prior to this, it was used as a plasma expander. The Kopeček Laboratory designed and developed HPMA copolymer-drug conjugates as a lysosomal delivery vehicle to cancer cells. The concept of using pHPMA as polymeric drug carriers has opened a new perspective in modern pharmaceutical science, and developed into the first polymer-drug conjugate entering clinical trials.
The HPMA copolymers are also used as a scaffold for iBodies, polymer-based antibody mimetics.