Without fear and complications
Contact lenses for drug delivery have been created
Nikita Shevtsov, Naked Science
Today, most retinal diseases require eye injections and implants, which have potential side effects, many of which are dangerous to health. In addition, almost a quarter of patients who have had such injections do not come for repeated procedures due to fear of a needle piercing the eye.
Therefore, researchers from Massachusetts and Boston Children's Hospitals have created an alternative to such a procedure that does not cause horror in patients and avoids side effects. Also, the new technology does not require surgical intervention, as when installing an implant.
They created special contact lenses containing a drug called dexamethasone, a steroid used to treat inflammation. Article by Ross et al. Topical sustained drug delivery to the retina with a drug-eluting contact lens is published in the journal Biomaterials.
The aim of the scientists was to develop such a delivery method so that the active substance falls directly on the back surface of the retina – the most inaccessible part of the eye. Scientists conducted laboratory tests and preclinical tests of the technology to show its applicability.
In preclinical animal models of uveitis and macular edema, two forms of eye inflammation, the lenses safely provided sustained delivery of the drug to the retina for one week. In fact, to the surprise of scientists, the lenses delivered 200 times more of the drug to the eye than was originally calculated. In clinical trials, doctors will take this fact into account and reduce the concentration of the drug in the lenses. This method of drug delivery proved to be as effective as eye injections to prevent damage to the retina.
Within a year, the team hopes to launch clinical trials to study the effectiveness of lenses in people with eye diseases. The cost of the new technology has not been disclosed. It is reported that this is the only non-invasive way to inject drugs directly into the posterior surface of the retina.
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