A method for producing a drug system which is a reversible gelled matrix with entrapped drug. The gel is made by combining a polysaccharide, such as dextran, a polymer of glucose, with a natural macromolecule, such as the lectin, concanavalin A, with binding sites for monomers of the polysaccharide. The drug is released in response to exposure of the matrix to free carbohydrate containing the monomer of the polysaccharide for which the natural macromolecule binds.