Patent 7786133 was granted and assigned to Nektar (pulminary therapeutics business unit) on August, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The invention provides small molecule drugs that are chemically modified by covalent attachment of a water-soluble oligomer obtained from a monodisperse or bimodal water-soluble oligomer composition. A conjugate of the invention, when administered by any of a number of administration routes, exhibits a reduced biological membrane crossing rate as compared to the biological membrane crossing rate of the small molecule drug not attached to the water-soluble oligomer.