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Contact lenses may offer mode of drug delivery
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Ophthalmic drug delivery may be successful when using particle-laden hydrogel contact lenses, two scientists have suggested.
Derya Gulsen and Anuj Chauhan at the University of Florida proposed that disposable particle-laden soft contact lenses for ophthalmic delivery would be more effective and efficient than current delivery modes. Ideally, ophthalmic drug formulations are encapsulated in nanoparticles and dispersed in the lens material, preferably poly-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (p-HEMA) hydrogels. The drug-laden p-HEMA hydrogels would then be synthesized by free radical solution polymerization. Initially, lidocaine was used to test the theory.
Contact lenses made with particle-laden hydrogels released therapeutic levels of the drug for “a few days,” the researchers said.
The study is published in the July issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.