a method for making an adhesive for use in joining soft living tissue including the steps of preparing a hydroxyl - terminated polyester by reacting a biodegradable monomer with a polyhydroxy polymerization initiator in the presence of an amount up to about 2 . 0 weight percent of a catalyst , and then preparing a diisocyanate - terminated prepolymer adhesive by reacting about 24 to 92 weight percent of the hydroxy - terminated polyester with about 8 to 76 weight percent excess aromatic diisocyante . the polyester and the diisocyanate are preferably dissolved in an organic solvent prior to the mixture thereof in a ratio of solids to solvent of about 60 : 40 . the polyester is a polymer or copolymer of lactide , glycolide or ε - caprolactone . the initiator is ethylene glycol , diethylene glycol , pentaerythritol or 1 , 1 , 1 - tris ethane . the catalyst is stannous octoate , a zinc compound , an aliphatic tertiary amine , dibutyltin diacetate or 1 , 4 - diazabicyclo octane .