protein or peptide and a gallic acid ester methods of making such compositions and methods of using such compositions while gallic acid esters are a known component of tannic acid the use of a highly purified component of tannic acids such as particular gallic acid esters to make a salt with peptides and polypeptides to create a sustained release formulation as described herein has not been described the advantages of the compositions of the invention include the delivery of the peptide or protein portion of the complex either systemically or locally for a controlled periods e g typically less than about one or two weeks delivery for longer periods of time is also contemplated as used herein the terms u201c protein u201d and u201c peptide u201d are understood to include polymers of amino acids linked by amide bonds typically a peptide will be composed of less than about 50 amino acids more typically less than about 30 amino acid residues and even more typically less than about 20 amino acid residues whereas a protein will typically be composed of more than 50 amino acids and will have structure and biological activity the protein 39 s biological activity can be enzymatic or it may be a binding activity that confers conformation changes these terms are further intended to encompass analogues and derivatives that mimic the chemical structure of the components of the protein or peptides examples of analogues include peptides.