Abstract
Eye diseases and injuries impose a significant clinical problem worldwide. Safe and effective ocular drug delivery is, however, challenging due to the presence of ocular barriers. Here we report a strategy using an eye patch equipped with an array of detachable microneedles. These microneedles can penetrate the ocular surface tissue, and serve as implanted micro-reservoirs for controlled drug delivery. The biphasic drug release kinetics enabled by the double-layered micro-reservoirs largely enhances therapeutic efficacy. Using corneal neovascularization as the disease model, we show that delivery of an anti-angiogenic monoclonal antibody (DC101) by such eye patch produces ~90% reduction of neovascular area. Furthermore, quick release of an anti-inflammatory compound (diclofenac) followed by a sustained release of DC101 provides synergistic therapeutic outcome. The eye patch application is easy and minimally invasive to ensure good patient compliance. Such intraocular drug delivery strategy promises effective home-based treatment of many eye diseases.
Highlights
Eye diseases and injuries impose a significant clinical problem worldwide
Repetitive drug applications with high dosage are often required for convention topical administration due to extremely low bioavailability (
In comparison, crosslinked methacrylated Hyaluronic acid (HA) (MeHA), which is synthesized by functionalizing HA with methacrylic anhydride (Supplementary Fig. 1) is more resistive to dissolution and offers a slow release of its cargo[21,22]
Summary
Eye diseases and injuries impose a significant clinical problem worldwide. Safe and effective ocular drug delivery is, challenging due to the presence of ocular barriers. Similar to topical eye drops, injecting drugs into ocular surface tissues (e.g. corneal intrastromal layer, sclera) has poor drug retention due to back-flow of injected solution and subsequent tear wash-out[4,6] Both conventional topical administration and local injection only produce burst release of drug with short effective duration, which is not ideal for treating chronic progressive eye diseases, such as glaucoma[6,10]. Microneedle (MN) technology is originally developed for transdermal drug delivery for various therapeutic purposes (e.g. vaccination, local anaesthesia, anti-diabetic and anti-obesity treatments), with painless, bloodless, high efficiency and ease of administration properties[14,15,16] Their patient-friendly feature and effectiveness in transdermal drug release have inspired researchers and clinicians to explore their applications in eye disease treatment. We believe this approach could be paradigm-shifting for long-term home-based treatment and management of various eye diseases
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
