. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Jul 15.

Published in final edited form as: Expert Opin Drug Deliv. 2021 Jan 22;18(3):383–398. doi: 10.1080/17425247.2021.1835858

Table 1.

Characteristics of DEE microspheres and drugs with CE marking, and other drugs that have been loaded.

Commercial Name	Material	Size (μm)^¶	Non-degradable or biodegradable	Examples of drugs loaded	References
DC Bead^™^# (Boston Scientific, USA)	Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) cross-linked with 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonate	70–150, 100–300, 300–500, 500–700	Non-degradable	doxorubicin^, irinotecan^, epirubicin, sorafenib, sunitinib, idarubicin, topotecan, mitoxantrone, bevacizumab^§, rapamycin^‡	[24–31]
DC Bead LUMI^™^# (Boston Scientific, USA)	PVA cross-linked with 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonate followed by conjugation of iodinated moiety	40–90 (“M0”), 70–150 (“M1”)	Non-degradable	doxorubicin^, irinotecan^, topotecan, vandetanib	[13, 32–34]
Embozene TANDEM^™^\|\| (Varian Medical Systems Inc., USA)	Poly(methylmethacrylate) coated with poly(bis[trifluoro-ethoxy]phosphazene)	40±10, 75±15, 100±25	Non-degradable	doxorubicin^, irinotecan^, idarubicin	[35–37]
HepaSphere^™^\|\| (Merit Medical Systems, USA)	Sodium acrylic acid-vinyl alcohol copolymer	30–60, 50–100, 100–150, 150–200	Non-degradable	doxorubicin^*, irinotecan, epirubicin, idarubicin, oxaliplatin, cisplatin	[37–43]
LifePearl^® (Terumo European Interventional Systems, Belgium)	Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and 3-sulfopropyl acrylate	100±25, 200±50, 400±50	Non-degradable	doxorubicin^, irinotecan^, idarubicin^, epirubicin^	[37, 44–46]
BioPearl^®^† (Terumo European Interventional Systems, Belgium)	–	–	Biodegradable	doxorubicin^, idarubicin^, epirubicin^*	[47]

Drug CE marked for loading in the corresponding listed DEE microspheres. The remaining drugs are not approved for use with the listed microspheres but their loading has been reported in pre-clinical or clinical investigations. No microspheres are approved for use as drug-eluting devices in the USA.

DC Bead and DC Bead LUMI are cleared for marketing within the US as bland embolic devices.

^||

Embozene TANDEM and HepaSphere are marketed as Embozene^™ and QuadraSphere^®, respectively, in the US as bland embolic devices.

^¶

Size ranges reported by vendor

^§

Loaded using layer-by-layer microsphere coating

^‡

Drug loaded by precipitation within microspheres

^†

Information based on vendor press release